Kantai Collection: Restoration
by Falkeno
Summary: The Abyssal's, humanoid monsters with the power of warships terrorise the oceans of the world, seemingly unstoppable, that is until they forgot the lesson regarding sleeping dogs, and how they should be left lying. [Continuation of Kantai Collection: Belfast]
1. Monsters and Old dogs

-Prologue-

When humanity first encountered the Abyssal's, they greatly misunderstood the threat, mostly down to the lack of credible evidence and no witnesses, they had attributed the mysterious loss of ships, to freak accidents and bad weather and any rumours of something otherwise were dismissed as just people trying to scare others for fun, there wasn't anything to contradict this theory, and what little evidence they had in the form of garbled and panicked radio messages, were brushed aside as the crews trying to call for rescue as their ship went down.

That was until the USS George Washington and her battle group on patrol in the Atlantic had received a radio from a ship in distress and had sent a search plane to try to locate the ship, only to find said ship being attacked by a force of what was later described as 'humanoid monsters with naval cannons' from all sides, the response to the threat had been at first, utter confusion as to what was going on, it didn't make any sense as to what they were seeing or rather hearing in the form of the panicked radio messages from the search plane as it bid a rapid retreat back to the carrier, but then their training kicked in and they had moved to respond to the threat by the book, that being to send some jets loaded with anti-shipping missiles to blow the crap out of the enemy, and then back home in time for medals and drinks, that was the plan anyway, and as was so famously put by Field Marshal Helmuth von Moltke the Elder 'No plan survives contact with the enemy', and so when the jets found their missiles unable to lock onto the Abyssal's, the carrier force did the only rational thing left to them, run the fuck away and raise the alarm.

There were only two problems with that plan, firstly the jets had been rather noisy and had naturally drawn the Abyssal's attention to the presence of a nice juicy aircraft carrier, and secondarily as the crews of the ships discovered, when they suddenly found plips on their radars that marked where the Abyssals were, and that said plips were steadily closing on their position, that the abyssals were faster than them, fortunately for the American's nearby was the nuclear attack submarine HMS Ambush which had also been responding to the distress signal, and listening in on the American radio traffic to see if they were needed, and so had were well informed of the nature of the threat by the time the Abyssal fleet had moved to pursue the American's, and realising that the Americans couldn't outrun them, the Ambush's crew had sent a message to the Americans that they were moving to intercept, adding that they had the best chances of stalling the Abyssal's long enough for the carrier and its escorts to disengage, whilst also being able live to tell the tale, the American's had wished them luck.

Now though the battle swung in favor of the Human's as whilst the jets guided missiles had been for some reason unable to gain a lock on the abyssal's, the abyssal's were making a lot of noise even compared to large unstealthed ships going full speed, and that logically meant the Ambush's acoustic homing torpedoes had something to track, and so not feeling too confident, Ambush's crew had decided on the 'throw enough shit at the wall some of it will stick' approach and had launched a full salvo on the unsuspecting enemy, only to be surprised as all six of the deadly spearfish had homed in on the two noisiest and coincidentally largest abyssals, later classified as a pair of Ta-class battleships, the crew of the Ambush had almost painked when the first torpedo, didn't blow the abyssal to pieces and were about to start thinking that this new enemy was completely invincible, when two more torpedoes struck the wounded Ta, this time blowing it apart; the other Ta had strangely reacted to its comrade's demise by attempting to zig-zag like it was trying to avoid an unguided weapon, the result, however, was the same.

The Ambush's crew would have normally gone deep and run at this point, but the other Ta's action had peaked their interest and so had stayed to monitor the Abyssal's for intelligence purposes, and had watched the sonar screen with interest as the abyssal's began executing classic Anti-submarine warfare tactics, classic as in it they were using WW2 Anti-submarine warfare tactics, which against a submarine as stealthy as the Ambush, was like trying to find a needle in a haystack, but not the haystack they were searching in; after an hour or so the Abyssal's had moved off back towards open waters, the crew of the Ambush deciding they'd pushed their luck, didn't follow.

Within a week, the world found itself under attack, any pretence of trying to hide their presence was replaced by pure aggression, the loss of merchant shipping skyrocketed to levels not seen since WW2, humanity had tried to respond using the information gathered by the crews of the George Washington and the Ambush, by using weapons which relied on principles and technology found in WW2 weapon systems, but that had only turned a total defeat, into a slow grinding match they couldn't win, the navies and air forces of the world found themselves executing hit and run guerrilla attacks, using jets and submarines to get in close to drop bombs or launch torpedo's and then get out quickly before any retaliation, which occasionally resulted in one maybe two ships sunk, which would be replaced by ten more each, the Abyssal horde seemed endless, humanity did have a few things going for it, such as due to having superior technology than their counterparts, their subs and aircraft could dive deeper than the abyssals could deep charge or climb higher and outrun any threat respectively, which meant they were maintaining what strength they had, and with fighter jets rearmed with additional guns, they could give Abyssal fighters a run for their money.

But with international shipping non-existent, air haulage barely managing with the bare essentials and land routes over-stressed and under constant threat of literal highway robbery, the world was falling apart, not even the world's armies, despite the lack of resources could be stripped of what they had, whilst being totally useless against the Abyssal's they were the only thing preventing some countries from descending into a state of civil war, and as a deterrent from others who saw the crisis as a chance to settle old grudges.

Mercifully though, whilst the Abyssal's had been wreaking havoc on the world oceans, they had so far stayed away from major population centres, many believed that they simply deterred by the heavy military presence that was defending the world's ports, but that theory was busted when, nearly three months after the first confirmed contact with the Abyssal's, a force of light cruisers and destroyers descended upon what they saw as a soft target, as the military had nothing defending it, but in their defence, with the Abyssal's focused on naval and maritime targets they hadn't thought to stretch what little they had to defend it, after all, central London didn't have any ports, not anymore at least.

* * *

 **October 9th, 2020 - London - 10:22 Hrs - HMS Belfast**

Not for the first time in its long history, the city of London was on fire, and not for the first time were its citizens, like their forebears before them, were cowering in fear in the tube stations which spanned the city, normally packed with commuters, now they were packed by people seeking safety from the hellfire which was raging above their heads, the skies over London for the first time in 80 years, were filled with aircraft, RAF Typhoons and Lightning's duelled it out with Abyssal fighters, both trying to achieve aerial supremacy, and both locked in a stalemate; but it wasn't the Abyssal aircraft which were doing the damage, that horrific honor fell to the fleet of Abyssal's sitting in the Thames, opposite the tower of London, launching volleys of murderous shellfire into the heart of the city, and Belfast standing on her quarterdeck had a front row seat to the whole show.

Belfast could believe what she was seeing, her home for the past 50 years, one she had watched grow and prosper with pride, was being reduced to rubble before her eyes. She desperately wanted to blow the crap out of the monsters destroying her city with her 6-inch guns, but without ammunition, propellant or anyone to fire them, she could only watch in horror, as the anger within her grew and grew.

"No, I can't let the anger consume me, not again, I can control it, I did during Korea, I can do it again!" She mentally screamed at herself, she wasn't letting that monster out of the hole she'd buried it in, after that night in 1945, but in Korea, she'd been able to distract herself from letting the monster consume her, but here, now, what could she do! The only thing which came to mind was to mentally run a gunnery drill, she wasn't sure why maybe imagining her guns tearing the Abyssal's apart would help distract her from the horror before her. She quickly selected a target, the largest of the Abyssal's, right at the centre of the pack, quickly she feed the calculations to her turrets; range to target, speed, course, the lot, she figured that if she wanted to make it believable to her imagination, she needed to go through the whole procedure, and when all that was done, her imagination informed her, her guns were ready to fire, "open fire" she sighed aloud.

Suddenly there was a roar of gunfire, which drowned out the sounds of battle all over the city, followed by the Abyssal promptly exploding in a cloud of fire and brimstone, with nothing remaining after it cleared, Belfast could only stand, her mouth aghast at what had just occurred, she knew that noise, it was a noise she'd heard many times in her life, only she hadn't heard it since her service days, that was the last time she'd fired her main armament; but that was impossible, there wasn't anyone aboard her and it wasn't like she could fire her..., Belfast thought, right up until she saw her gun turrets, which had been long trained at in the same positions for decades, were now pointed straight at the Abyssal's, barrels smoking ominously, she couldn't fathom what appeared to have happened, she couldn't have fired her guns, there wasn't anyone aboard her to fire her guns, nor propellant or shells either, yet her guns had fired, then Belfast noticed something, it was suddenly a lot quieter, turning attention back to the Abyssal fleet, who were looking just as confused as she was, even the Abyssal fighters were confused, by the fact that their organisation and tactics had completely collapsed, which was leaving them sitting ducks for the RAF, who were capitalising on the sudden confusion.

"All turrets ready, awaiting new target" a voice in the back of Belfast's head announced, catching her off-guard, she couldn't be controlling her guns, she was simply a spirit after all, but all the evidence seemed to be pointing to that conclusion, she needed to see the prove it, quickly she selected another target, compiled the calculations and, watching her aft turrets as she fed the information to her four turrets, and watched in amazement as the turrets adjusted their aim according to her calculations, she couldn't believe it, she was controlling her guns, she didn't know how, but that didn't matter, what mattered was that she could do something about the monsters attacking her home.

"Ok then, let's see how you like it!" She announced forcefully, and then her guns barked their deadly chorus, once again her target disintegrated under the weight of her broadside, this time through the Abyssal's noticed, and Belfast could only watch with grim satisfaction as the looks of confusion plastered on the Abyssal's faces, turned to ones of utter panic, clearly they hadn't been expecting her to be able to fight back, quickly four of the smaller Abyssal's, for some reason she identified them as destroyers, turned to engage her, only their shots missed by a substantial distance, Belfast simply responded by ordering her turrets to split their fire between the four Abyssal's, and watched with pride as all of her shells slammed home, leaving the Abyssal's as bleeding, battered hulks, sinking into the Thames. The sound of diving aircraft drew her attention, 4 Abyssal fighters diving on her, almost instantly her 40mm Bofors cannons opened up shredding the lead pair, the latter pair tried to pull away, only for the 3rd to be blown from the sky by a direct hit from one of her 4-inch guns, leaving the 4th climbing away, and might have escaped had it not been for the pair of Typhoon's tearing it apart under the hail of 20mm cannon shells as they roared past, the pilots staring at her empty deck and unmanned yet operational guns, probably wondering what the hell was going on.

With the threats from the air being kept at arm's length, be that by her guns or by the RAF, who were engaging in what Belfast would call 'a turkey shoot', she'd really screwed up the Abyssal's plans, Belfast meanwhile noticed something, she felt different, like she was alive, like when she had been commissioned, she felt warm?; It was then Belfast noticed something else, she was glowing, her spirit form was glowing, in fact, her entire hull was glowing, and she was getting warmer, and warmer, not painful, but she was feeling weird, really weird. Then suddenly it felt like her skin was on fire, skin? she didn't have skin, so how could she feel it? and then there was a blinding flash, and when it cleared, Belfast felt really different, not like she had when she was commissioned, this was more than that, the world seemed brighter, the air reeked of cordite, the wind on her face ruffled her hair which she had let grow into what most would call a long pixie cut.

"Wait, I don't feel the wind, I don't have a sense of smell" Belfast realised aloud, spirits didn't feel anything, so why was she feeling things, then she noticed something else, her guns had stopped, strange, as she moved to shift a strand of hair that had dropped over her eye, she found an answer, namely that there was a miniaturized version of one of her guns mounted to her right forearm, another was mounted on her other forearm, with the remaining two mounted on her upper arms, now she was really confused, but as she glanced at the Abyssal's she realised they saw her confusion and raised with looks of complete and utter terror, their looks fixed on her, not at her hull but directly at her, almost like they could see her.

Then pieces all the pieces suddenly clicked into place, working weapons, human-like senses, feeling like she was alive, the fact the Abyssal's could see her! there was only one conclusion, a crazy, impossible conclusion, she had somehow entered the human realm, figuring out how could wait, right now she had guns, she had targets and those targets needing killing. The Abyssal's meanwhile had regained some form of organization as they had developed a plan, that being to turn and flee in panic, Belfast meanwhile, figuring that if she had a physical form and weapons like the Abyssal's did, she could probably move on the water like they did, maybe.

"Well in for a penny, in for a pound," she said doubtfully, before leaping off of her old body, only to be rewarded as she landed on the water's surface, confirming her theory. Returning her attention to the fleeing Abyssal's, a grin formed on her face, not fueled by hatred or anger, but one of determination, the Abyssal's had just made a big mistake, they'd woken her up, and now they were going to pay for it.

* * *

 **Author's notes**

 **Did you miss me?, So here we are again, I didn't know how to put this one down, there was a lot of setting up to do, and I didn't know if this seemed a bit long-winded, but now I've got the set up sorted, we can get down to the story itself, but if you disagree please tell me, I love reading feedback so any is welcome.**

 **And now for a little shout out to all those who commented on the primer for this piece you guys/girls (can't be too careful), especially Jrandom42, for not only being the first person to review any of my stories but for correctly guessing how I was going to summon Belfast, kudos my friend, give yourself a cookie.**

 **So now that I've got that out of the way, I hope you enjoy the continuation of the story, which I didn't expect to do as well as it has because I'm going to enjoy writing it.**


	2. Stretching muscles

**October 9th, 2020 - London - 10:30 Hrs - HMS Belfast**

Belfast looked downriver at the fleeing Abyssal's, wondering how she was going to pursue them, she couldn't mimic their movements as they didn't have legs, which she did and she had to work out how her new body worked quickly, as the Abyssal's were rapidly opening the distance, having nearly reached the bend in the river, lifting her leg to take a stride only resulted in her nearly falling flat on her face, so walking was out, changing tach she gingerly she pushed off with her foot like an ice skater, figuring that if water was just thawed ice the principles should be similar and was rewarded by smoothly gliding forward slowly, now she'd worked out how to move Belfast quickly built up speed to what her head told her was 30 knots, but the Abyssal's had built up a lead with most of the force being out of sight, but there was a pair of the shark like destroyers who had fallen behind, lining up on the first one, Belfast mentally gave the command to open fire, her guns making short work of the destroyer, but as Belfast noticed, not all of her shells had hit the target, a clear indication of the mixture of rustiness and that shooting on the move at a moving target wasn't as easy as shooting from stationary, the other destroyer, however, noticing Belfast's accuracy tried to maneuver to make itself harder to hit.

"Oh no, you don't" Belfast muttered to herself, and adjusted her aim to the second destroyer, but this time factoring in the movement of herself, and watched as most of her next salvo slammed home, she wanted to smile in triumph, but she knew that those two were small fry, the main force was the main prize, but with the threat of hitting civilians she couldn't fire at anything other than short range, and she wasn't going close the distance before they reached the channel, but as she rounded another bend in the Thames an idea struck her, the Abyssal's were continuing downriver, but ahead of her was Canary Wharf, if she cut through it she maybe could close the distance by taking a more direct route, rather than sail the long way round, spotting a jetty Belfast changed course for it and maintaining her momentum leapt ashore, but as she landed she felt the weight of her rigging on her, she couldn't run with it on, thinking on her feet Belfast ordered her equipment to be stowed, and surprisingly noticed that her weapons and the rigging on her back promptly disappeared in a flash of light.

Quickly Belfast sprinted onto the deserted streets and ran across the roundabout and down the main street running across Canary Wharf, dogging abandoned cars and rubble as she did, the sight sickened her, these were innocent people, who didn't deserve to be slaughtered, it was a pleasant reminder of how much she'd changed after escaping the control of her monstrous self, reaching the end of the road Belfast found a basin of water ahead of her with an offshoot leading towards her goal, leaping off of the shore Belfast mentally ordered her equipment deployed this time, her equipment responding as commanded, sailing across the basin and under the bridge opposite, Belfast was confronted by another bridge, this one though had had its arch's bricked up, so Belfast once again found herself having to swap back to land, in order to divert around the obstruction, running across the bridge and down the path way opposite Belfast saw the other side of the Thames, and as she neared the opposite railing, she saw her strategy had paid off as the main Abyssal force sailed out in front of her.

"Hey remember me!" Belfast shouted, leaping over the railing, summoning her rigging and firing a full broadside at another of the larger Abyssal's, which she now identified as a light cruiser, and watched in amazement as every single shell hit home, leaving the Abyssal a pulverized bloody mass, clearly she hadn't been as rusty as she thought; the other Abyssal's meanwhile lodged their protest at Belfast's act by opening up on her, forcing her to twist and maneuver like crazy to avoid the wall of shell's, but her infamous luck held and despite the odds all of the shells missed, taking a minute to catch her breath, Belfast took stock of the situation, there were 13 enemy units, 2 more of those light cruisers and 11 more of the destroyers, but clearly none of them had been expecting ship-to-ship combat, as they were carrying extra AA guns in-place of where Belfast assumed would be their torpedo mounts, so she didn't have to worry about eating a torpedo, but 13 on 1 weren't great odds. It was at this moment that the RAF made a reappearance, this time in the form of a flight of 4 Tornado's diving in from behind, before unleashing a barrage of unguided rockets from the rocket pods mounted under their wings, however someone was clearly on the ball and had told the crews that the one wearing an old Royal Navy uniform was on their side, because the missiles didn't land close to Belfast, the Abyssal's, however, weren't as fortunate as they ate most of the strike, the Tornado's their strike complete, lit their after burners and made like homesick angels, climbing out of the Abyssal AA fire, which mostly missed due to the speed the Tornado's had built up in the dive.

Belfast her vision blocked by the cloud of smoke, courtesy of the RAF, resorted to her Radar to get a clear picture of the enemy force now that the RAF had worked them over, Now there were only 8 of the monsters left, 6 destroyers who had survived with little to no damage, and the 2 light cruisers one of which was badly mauled, the other one though was totally undamaged, but as Belfast entered the Thames estuary a thought occurred to Belfast.

"Where the hell is the Navy!?" She wondered, the Army had been manning the AA guns in the city, the RAF had been taking the fight to the Abyssal's in the air, but the Navy had been so far absent, shouldn't there have been at least a ship guarding the Thames? then Belfast realized why she hadn't seen the Navy, they'd already tried to stop the Abyssal's, and judging by the burning beached Type 23 frigate and sunken remains of patrol ships, had lost, Badly. At least the crew of the frigate had been able to beach their ship, and whilst the ship was burning, it wasn't an inferno, so maybe it could be salvaged later, but now Belfast knew if they Navy was to salvage any honor from this she'd have to do it, only for one of the Abyssal Destroyers to promptly eat 3 shells center of mass from behind leaving it a crippled sinking wreak, which drew the Abyssal's and Belfast's attention to the new contenders making their entrance, and to Belfast's relief, the Navy had decided to help her salvage their honor, a Type 45 destroyer charged in, a bright red dragon adorning it bows, flanked by two more Type 23's.

Now they had the Abyssal's boxed in, with the Navy blocking their escape on one side and Belfast on the other, and with the RAF and probably the Fleet Air Arm as well harassing them from the air, the Abyssal's had nowhere left to run, but like cornered foxes they weren't finished yet, the remaining turned and Charged Belfast, with the cruisers turning their guns on Type 45, Belfast fired her armament at the destroyers, blowing one apart, but the other four would be on her before she could reload, if only she had her 4-inch guns then she could deal with them without waiting for her main armament, thinking quickly Belfast glanced down at her waist, if her 4-inchers would be anywhere, they'd be at her waist, and that's exactly where they were, two of them, in what appeared to be holster's, and fashioned into what looked like pistols, quickly she drew them, only two mounts though, where the other pair were was a mystery but that could wait, right now she had destroyer issues. Using her eyes to track one and her radar for another, Belfast let rip aiming for the mouth, right where the gun was mounted, which by the Abyssal's falling over quite dead, confirmed that it was indeed a weak spot, the other destroyers seeing that Belfast had just fired decided to make their move, unfortunately for one of them Belfast's main armament had by now reloaded, and at point blank range Belfast couldn't miss, but the last destroyer had her dead to rights, as it leapt from the water Belfast tried to bring her 4-inch pistols to bear, but she was too slow, and then the Abyssal took a direct hit, which arrested its flight so that instead of landing on Belfast, it landed at her feet, where Belfast was waiting to unload both her pistols into it, with all the threats now removed, Belfast shot a glance over her shoulder to see where her saving shot had come from, and in the process answered another question, that being where her other 4-inch guns were, only to see that one was bolted to the superstructure on her back, at least now she knew her back was covered.

A large explosion drew Belfast back into the battle, the Type 45 had taken a direct hit to its bridge, and its gun was lying on its side, but if the Abyssal's were going to celebrate, they were going to be short-lived, as the Type 23's responded by unleashing their torpedo's 2 per cruiser, the explosion obscuring both of them, and when the spray cleared only one was left standing, crippled, bleeding and maimed but somehow still standing, the Abyssal turned to face Belfast and let out one last defiant roar at her, Belfast simply responded with grim satisfaction by letting the Abyssal have all of it, 12 6-inch guns, she even positioned her arms so that she could bring all 8 of her 4-inchs guns to bear, the Abyssal under this weight of fire didn't stand a chance, and with one colossal fireball, was blown apart, chunks for burnt flesh and scorched metal splashing all around where it had stood. Belfast heaved a sigh of relief, they were all dead, but she couldn't go home yet, the crew of the Type-45 needed her help, and so she set of a good speed towards the smouldering ship.

* * *

 **Authors notes**

 **Sorry, this is a bit late, I'm busy with work, college and home so I'm short on time right now, anyway sorry if this is just one long section but there's a lot happening. As usual please feel free to comment and tell me what you think and what needs changing, I do listen to what you say as fresh eyes are often better at spotting the mistakes.**

 **Hope you enjoyed this chapter and I hope your keen for the next one.**


	3. First contact

**October 9th, 2020 - Thames Estuary - 10:49 Hrs - HMS Belfast**

Belfast raced towards the destroyer, making for a net which had been thrown over the port side for the zodiacs from the frigates to use, promptly she reached the net and taking a firm hold, stowed her rigging, the effect was immediate in that her feet slipped below the surface, telling her she could only stand on water when she had her rigging out. Quickly she scaled the net finding herself on the destroyer's foredeck and took in the situation, the gun was a wreck, sparks flying from where it had been mounted, the bridge was smashed, but as she noticed the ship was listing to starboard and was down by the bows, clearly, she had taken on water, but damage control seemed to have it under control.

"Holy crap, she's actually real," a voice next to her said, causing Belfast to realize that the foredeck was littered with sailors, all of whom were shocked to see the physical incarnation of what was a WW2 vintage light cruiser, however, a midshipman nervously stepped forward to greet her.

"Midshipman White of HMS Dragon at your service, I can't believe you here" she announced, trying to sound confident, but her face betrayed her true feelings.

"Belfast and I can't believe it either, where's the Captain?" Belfast replied she had to get a situation report, not just on the ship but the world in general, clearly something bigger than herself was going on.

"The Captains in the operations room, I'll take you" White explained, moving towards an open door, with Belfast falling in behind, "It's a good thing you turned up when you did, if we'd have had to enter the Thames, we'd have ended up like the Lancaster" she babbled, as he led her through the hatch into the red glow of the emergency lighting, the girls nerves were clearly shot, "we lost power when the bridge got hit, so watch your step" she continued as she climbed down a ladder, Belfast however, slid down, something she'd learned from her crews "Sir there's someone here to see you" White announced as they reached the operations room, which was a mess, with frayed wires and shattered monitors.

"About bloody time" the captain exclaimed, turning from a table where plans for the ship were laid out, only to be surprised by the presence of Belfast, however like any good officer he quickly regained his composure, "Captain Attwood, commander of HMS Dragon, and your HMS Belfast" he greeted, offering his right hand, his left was secured in a hastily made sling.

"A pleasure sir, what's the situation?" Belfast replied, taking his hand and giving him a firm handshake.

"Well we've taken on water forward, the bridge is a mess, and the powers out across the ship" he explained drawing Belfast's attention to the plans laid out on the table, which was covered in tokens, marking the position of damage control teams, "but the real problem is that we've lost contact with 4.5's ready room, we can flood it but we may have people still inside, but we can't risk a magazine detonation, I don't suppose you can help?" answered Attwood, tapping his finger on the plans ominously; Belfast, however, couldn't see a way for her to help, she was the wrong spirit to be talking too, Dragon was the one who Attwood should have been asking, not her.

But then again maybe she could help, Dragon was a spirit like her, only she was still in the spirit realm, maybe Belfast could communicate with Dragon for the crew, she'd know the answer, but how was she meant to talk to Dragon, she knew nothing about her, other than the dragon which was adorning her bow, she focused on that dragon, the red dragon which was her badge, her mark, closing her eyes concentrating with all her might, Belfast felt herself go light, like she weighed nothing, opening her eyes the room seemed darker, the voices of concern around her seemed muffled, backing away from the table, Belfast had to resist the urge to jump, as a doppelganger of herself stayed where she had been standing, frozen in place.

"Well aren't you full of surprises today" winced a voice from next to Belfast, turning Belfast found the source, a girl looking in her mid-teens, a wave of fiery red hair paired with a pair of striking amber coloured eyes, a large bloody cut running down her face, had it not been for the more modern outfit, she could have been confused for the D-class cruiser Dragon, "I heard everything, there's no fire in the magazine, and there's crew trapped there so don't flood it, and tell Matt that engineering should have the power back any second now, and tell Holly that she's doing a great job, ok" Dragon informed Belfast, as she leaned on a smashed console for support, the wound looked bad, but ships could take damage like that, they were ships after all, "oh and by the way, thanks for showing up, I don't know how you did it, but we really need you right now, the worlds a bit fucked up right now" she added ominously.

"Your welcome, I'll tell them, ok" Belfast replied, she would have liked to talk, but time was of the essence, and so let her concentration lapse from the image of the dragon she'd fixated on; the effect was sudden, in a flash Belfast was back in her body, the sudden feeling of movement, causing her to lose her sense of balance, only because she was grasping the table prevented her from falling to the deck.

"Are you ok?" White asked, the alarm in her voice noticeable, "You sort of froze up on us!" she added.

"I'm fine, so's the magazine, and you have people trapped there so don't flood it" Belfast relayed, turning to White and Attwood, "Oh and Matt, the power should be back soon, and Holly you're doing a great job" she continued, causing White and Attwood to looked confused, which only got worse when the power suddenly came back on.

"Wait, how do you know that? how did you know the power was going to come back? and how do you know my name?" Attwood asked, sounding utterly confused as all hell.

"Dragon told me, see" Belfast explained, pointing to where Dragon should have been, only to find empty space, "Ok now that's new" Belfast continued, everyone present looking just as confused as Attwood and White.

* * *

 **October 9th, 2020 - Aboard HMS Dragon D35 - 13:17 Hrs - HMS Belfast**

Belfast sat at a table in the officer's galley, nursing a cup of coffee, another thing she was having to get used to was taste, the bitter taste had at first been striking, but after a few sips, its appeal revealed itself, she'd spent the last few hours helping retrieve the trapped crew from the gun's magazine, and the coffee was helping ease the stress. Belfast was about to see if she could try and talk to Dragon again when White sat down opposite her, a trio of men and another woman joining her as well, all midshipmen by the look of them.

"Excuse me miss Belfast, can we ask you a question?" asked one of the Midshipmen, looking nervous as all hell, and who could blame him, she was pretty much a legend to them.

"Ask away sailor, what do you want to know?" Belfast replied trying to be friendly, putting the man at ease somewhat.

"Well since you spirit's exist around us and can see what we're doing, but us not being able to see you, we were wondering..." the man trailed off, clearly too embarrassed to continue, Belfast had a good idea why.

"What these muppets are trying to say is, do you spy on them, when they're having some 'alone time'" the female midshipman continued, causing the other midshipmen to cringe slightly, Belfast meanwhile, kept her face plain, her guess had been correct, and then she burst out laughing, which surprised the midshipmen around her, before composing herself to give an answer.

"Nah, well I left my crews alone, and Dragon seemed like a nice one, so your pretty safe" Belfast explained, putting the men at ease, "then again you never can trust the nice ones, I mean Shef, my sister, she was notorious, I mean she even..."Belfast trailed off, Sheffield, one of her sisters was gone, they were all gone, she missed them badly, if she had the chance to see them again, she wouldn't push them away again. "But yeah Dragon doesn't seem the type" Belfast continued, the male midshipmen still looking rather concerned, the female midshipman, however, was wearing a shit-eating grin, and Belfast knew how to fix that, "Hey, I don't know what your grinning about, I have it on good authority that some spirits were more interested in the 'reading material' than what the people were doing with it" Belfast pointed out, wiping the grin off of the woman's face instantly; thank you HMS Norfolk for that titbit of information, courtesy of a conversation during an arctic convoy escort in mid 1943, a conversation Belfast listened too but had abstained from, slightly due to not being comfortable with the subject matter, but mostly because she had been a total bitch at the time.

"Wait, Shef? your sister had a short name?" White queried, who had been half listening, instead, she'd been focused on her own cup of coffee, causing Belfast to mentally facepalm, she'd just said something that was personal, but White seemed nice so Belfast didn't mind sharing some information with her, not the bad stuff, however, that stayed private.

"Yeah we all did, there was Sou, Cas, Min, Shef, Glaz, Liv, Ches, Glo and Edi" Belfast explained, as the other midshipmen trickled away, they had what they wanted, it felt good to talk to someone for the first time in a while, most of the other ships who had moored up next to her, hadn't been talkative, White however, gave her a curious look.

"So, what did they call you?" White inquired, noticing that Belfast had missed out her name on the list.

"They called me Bel, it was better than saying Belfast all the time" she answered, taking another gulp of coffee.

"It sounds like you all got along like a house on fire" White commented, causing Belfast to suddenly smother the urge to choke, her relationship with her sisters had been anything but good, if it had been a house on fire, Belfast would have been the one holding the match.

"Yeah, I guess we did" Belfast lied, that secret was staying buried, she couldn't fix that mistake, and it was best to keep it out of sight, there were too many bad memories involved.

"Good afternoon, Mind if I join you?" Attwood asked, stepping over towards the table, a mug held in his good hand, his broken arm now in a more secure sling.

"By all means sir" White answered, moving over so Attwood could take a seat, "I was just talking with Bel, about herself" White explained, causing Attwood some confusion, "Bel is short for Belfast, it's what her sisters called her" White explained, clearing up the confusion.

"Well Bel, it seems the worlds got wind of your appearance" Attwood explained removing a phone from his pocket, quickly he tapped on the screen a few times before handing it over to Belfast, "Have a look at this, you know how to use it?" Attwood continued, Belfast replying with a nod, she'd seen enough phones to work out how they worked. The screen contained a video of a news report, gently and with some trepidation Belfast tapped the play icon, causing the video to spring to life.

"Breaking news now, earlier today London was attacked by the Seabourn monsters known as the Abyssal's, causing heavy damage and casualties, however by means which have yet to be determined, the cruiser HMS Belfast, which has been an iconic figure on the Thames, engaged the enemy on her own accord" the presenter announced, before cutting to camera footage of one of Belfast's 40mm mounts firing at a target, "at first onlookers believed she was being crewed by the navy or volunteers, however as the footage shows she was firing on her own" the announcer added, the footage then cut to a shot of her stern, probably from tower bridge itself, "Belfast then produced, what has been described as a pillar of blinding light, after which her guns ceased firing, however when the light cleared as you can see there was a figure standing on her stern, which has been confirmed as the human form of the cruisers spirit" the announcer explained, as the footage changed again, to camera footage from what looked an aircraft, no doubt a Tornado's back-seater had decided to film the event, "Belfast then pursued the enemy out of the Thames, and in co-operation with assets from the navy and the air force destroyed the attacking force entirely" the announcer continued, the footage cutting back to the studio, revealing a middle aged man with greying hair and a pair of thin glasses.

"Currently Belfast is onboard the Destroyer HMS Dragon, on route to Portsmouth where we hope the Navy will give us more information when it becomes available, but in a situation like this I find myself reminded of a quote of Churchill, 'Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning' and if Belfast is somehow watching this, may I say, thank you, thank you for coming in our hour of need" the announcer concluded, wiping tears from his eyes, were they of sadness, or of joy, that perhaps humanity had a fighting chance after all.

"We should be in Portsmouth in a couple of minutes, I've been informed the Navy want to speak with you" Attwood explained as he took his phone back, "so I'd suggest that we make a good impression" Attwood continued moving towards the door, with White and Belfast falling in behind, with Belfast deep in thought, just how much of a fuss where they going to make out of her she wondered, probably something modest.

* * *

 **Authors notes**

 **This was meant to be longer but I decided to split it in two, and the conversation between Belfast and the midshipmen is just me trying to explain Kongo trying to get the Admiral all the time, has to have come from somewhere, anyway feel free to review and tell me what you think.**


	4. Ajustments

**October 9th, 2020 - Portsmouth Harbour - 13:35 Hrs - HMS Belfast**

Modest wasn't the correct word, crowds packing the Harborside, waving flags and singing the national anthem, that was treatment reserved for royalty, and yet there wasn't a royal in sight. Gracefully the battered destroyer entered the harbour proper, crews of the ships present lining their decks to watch as the destroyer docked behind a carrier tied up alongside, Belfast had had a clear view of the whole scene, she'd manned the rails like Dragons crew, or rather those who could stand. Quickly she made her way to the gangplank, where the wounded were being unloaded first, however as she arrived at the ramp she noticed a sailor having difficulty disembarking, his face and one of his legs were bandaged and was using a crutch to steady himself, normally he'd have been on a stretcher, but with so many wounded, they were in short supply.

"Here let me help you" Belfast offered, taking the wounded man's arm and putting it over her shoulder, taking the man's weight off of his wounded leg.

"Thanks" the sailor replied, as they stepped out onto the gangplank, where Belfast was almost blinded by the flashes from photographers, who she had genuinely not realized were there, "Hope they got your good side" the man said jokingly as they reached the bottom, where he was set upon by medics who carried the man of to a waiting ambulance, leaving Belfast standing alone at the bottom of the ramp, as the unhurt crewmen came ashore, until an older man stepped forward from a crowd of naval personnel, followed by two more, Belfast immediately straightened slightly as she noticed the Admirals uniform, however before she could give him a salute, the admiral strangely gave her one first, which Belfast quickly returned before taking the man's outstretching hand.

"Admiral Clarke, at your service and may I say how glad I am to meet you, and don't call me sir, I makes me feel more important than I am" the admiral greeted, before turning to the people behind him, "This is Lieutenant Taylor, a doctor and one of our chief scientists, and who is very keen to work out how you turned up, but I won't sick her on you until after the press conference" he explained, with Taylor giving Belfast a sincere smile, Belfast meanwhile was trying to process the mention of a press conference, "and this is Captain Walker, an attaché from the American's, he's keen to speak with you as well" the Admiral continued, pointing to the dark-skinned man in the US Navy uniform, Walker as if on cue, seized Belfast's hand and shook it vigorously.

"How do you do ma'am, Captain Francis Walker, the US Navy is keen to speak with you in detail" Walker explained, Belfast meanwhile simply smiled back before prizing her hand out of the Americans grip, as Attwood and White came ashore.

"Ah, Captain Attwood good timing, I was just informing Belfast about the press conference, but I'd suggest you get that arm looked at first, we've got time before then, and we need to sort out an outfit for the star of the show herself" Clarke explained.

"Wait, what's wrong with my outfit?" Belfast asked, looking down at her outfit, the navy jacket and pants, the jumper and leather work boots, it wasn't offensive, but as Belfast noticed, it was rather tatty looking, "Ok I see the point, I'll grab something from the stores then" She continued, only to receive an awkward look from the Admiral.

"Actually, high command has decided that the whole militaristic look isn't in the best interest of anyone, in fact, they would rather have you dress... casual" Clarke explained, which caught Belfast off guard, she had never dressed casually in her life, she'd always worn some form of uniform, be that the matching one she and her sisters had originally, or the navy one she'd had after her refit, she didn't know the first thing about clothes, "Is something the matter?" he asked, her face had been a clear give away.

"Um, well it's just I've never worn anything other than a uniform, I've got nothing casual to wear" Belfast answered, Clarke however simply smiled, clearly, he had a solution.

"That's not a problem, the Gunwharf Quay is just up the road, you should be able to get something there, the navy will pay for it all of course, you saved London after all" Clarke replied, which only made things worse, other than watching her crew visit the NAAFI occasionally, and tourists at her gift shop, she knew nothing about shopping, let alone clothes shopping, Attwood however, noticing Belfast's plight, came to her rescue.

"Sir, might I suggest we send White to accompany her, this is all new to her and maybe someone should help her, and she and White have been getting on rather well already, so she is the perfect candidate for this job" Attwood offered, leaving both White and Belfast surprised.

"That's not a bad idea Captain" Clarke responded before turning to White, "Do you think you can handle a shopping trip midshipman?" Clarke asked, prompting White from her surprised state, who gave a simple nod to show her acknowledgement of the request, "Good, then head over to the pay office and they'll sort you out with some cash, Just be sure to keep the receipts and be back by 16:00Hrs with a full outfit, and be careful that what you pick is appropriate, we don't need Ofcom on our backs" Clarke concluded as he turned away, gesturing for Attwood to follow as did, with Walker and Taylor following as well, leaving Belfast standing awkwardly at the bottom of the gangplank.

"C'mon Bel, let's get you some new gear" White announced, steering Belfast towards the pay office, Belfast, however, was weighing up her options, she could argue with the Admiral, but as this came from above him, she knew it would be pointless, and so Belfast accepted her fate and began walking over to the building in question, just how bad could clothes shopping be.

* * *

 **October 9th, 2020 - Gunwharf Quays - 14:45 Hrs - HMS Belfast**

If Belfast had a choice between clothes shopping and taking on a battleship solo, she'd have taken the battleship every time, and she hadn't even finished her first shopping trip yet, "Why are you doing this?" Belfast complained, White however just looked at her like Belfast had just grown two heads.

"Well we've been ordered to get you an outfit, and carrying that order out, you should know that" White answered rhetorically, as she picked a blouse off a clothes rack, held it up to Belfast, before shaking her head and put it back where it belonged.

"No, that, you keep picking stuff up and holding it up to me, before putting it back" Belfast clarified, to her this just seemed a waste of time, but it seemed normal to White.

"That's what two people do when they go clothes shopping, one-person picks something out for the other, and decides if it's good or not; I do this all the time with my sister when we go shopping" White explained, as she picked out a top and repeated the process again.

"Yeah, and does that include underwear" Belfast pointed out, that had been way too awkward for Belfast, underwear was underwear, nobody was going to see it anyway, so why White had made a big deal of it was lost on her.

"Eh, what can I say, I'm through, besides your gear is at least 50 years old, so we've got to replace everything" reassured White, before turning to face Belfast "and no offence, you need someone who knows more about clothes than just uniforms" she countered, she had Belfast there, Belfast's entire outfit was made up of duplicates of navy issue clothing, ranging from WW2 to 1971, when she'd been decommissioned.

"Yeah but all you've picked up isn't really my style" Belfast explained, she preferred men's clothes to girls, but as she'd changed outfits during her rebuild, a period she couldn't remember much of other than agonizing pain and periods of crying, she couldn't remember why.

"Ok, well you seem to like jackets, maybe we should start there" White concluded, before leading Belfast towards the section where the jackets were located, "See anything you like?" White asked as they reached the section in question, Belfast scanned the racks carefully, there were woollen ones, patterned ones and plain cloth ones, but none appealed to her, but then Belfast's keen eyes picked out a flash black leather poking out from the end of one of the racks, curiously Belfast walked over and took the jacket off the rack, revealing a black leather jacket with what appeared to be a cloth hoodie built into it, with wrist-hugging cloth cuffs.

"What do you think?" Belfast asked turning to face white whilst holding up the jacket in front of herself, White looked at the jacket, then back to Belfast, before nodding approvingly.

"I think we've got a start, what next?" White queried, Belfast thought for a moment, what she should do next was get some pants and shoes and get back to the harbour, but as she looked at the jacket, something else popped into her head.

"What about a scarf, I'm thinking, green" Belfast offered, White thought about it, before walking to where the scarfs were, with Belfast following not far behind, reconsidering her earlier preference to shopping.

* * *

 **October 9th, 2020 - Portsmouth Naval Dockyard - 15:50 Hrs - HMS Belfast**

Admiral Clarke waited patiently at the victory gate of Portsmouth naval dockyard, the press had been herded into the Royal naval association building for the upcoming press conference, now all that remained was the subject of the press conference herself, and with only 10 minutes till it was meant to start, she and Midshipman White were cutting it close. Finally, however, the pair in question came into view, at first Clarke didn't recognize Belfast, gone was the old tatty naval uniform, in its place she wore a pair of faded jeans, black sneakers, a black leather jacket, a grey baseball shirt, with a green plaid scarf tied around her neck to complete the look, she actually looked like a normal early twenties girl, and had Clarke not known she could summon naval armaments, he would have believed it as well.

"Sorry we're late Admiral, Bel had to change before we left, and the public have been stopping us constantly" White apologized as they stepped through the gate into the dockyard.

"You're not late, just cutting it close, now if you'll follow me I'll take you to the press conference" Clarke replied as he led the pair across the base, normally he'd have had a sailor do this, but he wanted to get a read off of Belfast, who seemed to be adjusting to her new reality rather well he thought, "Now, the press will want to talk about what happened in London, as well as about yourself, I presume you'll be able to answer any of their questions" He added, which caused Belfast to blanch slightly, which Clarke and White both noticed, "Is something the matter?" Clarke asked concernedly as they entered the building the press conference was being held in.

"No, it's just they'll be disappointed with what I've got to say" Belfast lied, if she told the reporters anything about herself, it wasn't going to be the full truth, if they knew that, then humanity wouldn't be cheering at her, they would be demanding her head, at least that was what she expected from them, monsters got destroyed, and deep within her still lay the monster of her wartime self, a constant reminder of her dark past, and one that Belfast didn't want to relive ever again.

"Well they'll just have to work with what they've got" White countered, she suspected Belfast was hiding something, but she was entitled to her privacy and White wasn't going to jeopardize the sort of friendship the two had struck up over a hunch.

"Anyway, we're here now" Clarke announced as they reached the doors of the press conference, "Are you ready?" He asked as he grabbed one of the handles, with White taking the other one, Belfast simply took a deep breath, psyched herself up and nodded to the Admiral. Upon her signal, Clarke and White opened the doors and Belfast's vision exploded as the flashes of cameras sprung to life, as she stepped through the doorway.

* * *

 **October 9th, 2020 - Portsmouth Naval Dockyard - 18:02 Hrs - HMS Belfast**

Belfast sighed with relief as she stepped out into the cool air outside, the press conference had taken longer than she'd expected, so many questions had been asked, some Belfast had been unable to answer, simply because she didn't know either, but most Belfast had been surprised by how much the press had been hungry for information about her, what did she like?, what did she dislike?, did she have any interests, and what were they?, These questions Belfast had been able to answer with some degree of confidence, after all, she knew the answers, but some questions Belfast had lied about, what did she do during the war?, how was she like as a 'person'?, what had other ship spirits thought of her?, these were questions Belfast did not want anyone knowing the answer to.

Now though Belfast had some thinking to do, what was she going to do next? from what she had gathered from the navy and the internet, the world's oceans were a mess, the Abyssal's as humanity called them, controlled the waves, the navies of the world were almost powerless to stop them, only submarines and aircraft were effective weapons against them, and in that mess she now found herself, the spirit of a WW2 vintage light cruiser, the last of Britain's big guns, and the world knew it, the world was desperate for her, already the Americans were making proposals, some more radical than others, some right-wing politicians were even demanding that she be turned over to them, like that was going to happen. But Belfast was out of her depth, she was in an era that was as alien to her, as mars was to humans, she needed advice, and unfortunately, that meant paying a visit to an old ally, one she'd last heard from in 1971, and even then, Belfast had never been in her good books.

"I can't believe I'm doing this" Belfast muttered to herself as she climbed onto the top deck of the ship in question, finally able to stand straight, at 5 foot 5 inches in human height, she had still been too tall for the lower decks, but that was to be expected on a ship nearly 175 years older than herself, sighing to herself, Belfast sat down on the deck, closed her eyes, and began to concentrate until her body went light again, signalling her transference back to the spirit realm, slowly she opened her eyes, revealing a figure looking at her with cold eyes.

"Hello Bel, it's been a while," HMS Victory spoke coldly as she stood in front of Belfast, compared to Belfast who looked in her early twenties, Victory looked like she was in her late thirties, and as Belfast noted, she still wore the same Napoleonic era dress, paired with an impeccable officers jacket of similar vintage, "So what brings you here? questions you hope I'll have answers for I presume, but the real question is should I bother helping you" she continued as she stepped towards her wheel, Belfast had expected her cold behaviour towards her, Victory still had memories of Belfast, and none of them were good.

"C'mon Victory, cut me a break, it's been 50 years and I've changed since you last saw me" Belfast pleaded, as she stood up, Victory however simply turned to face Belfast, the emotion in her blue eyes told the whole story.

"Oh, I heard about that, you managed to get through a whole battle without going psycho" Victory sarcastically stated, she still hadn't forgiven Belfast for going off the deep end, and for a time she had agreed with her.

"Please Victory, you've got to help me, you've done it before, you can do it again" Belfast reminded her, even though Victory didn't like Belfast, she had at least helped ensure that her secret had been lost as those that knew it disappeared.

"I only did that for the sake of your sisters, besides I don't have the answers you seek" Victory countered, before glaring at the light cruiser, "Now you have company coming, so I'd suggest you speak to them, but don't worry your secrets safe with me, I owe your sisters that" She informed Belfast before turning her back on her.

"Well, this was a worthwhile visit" Belfast sighed to herself, as she let her concentration go lax, transporting her back to her mortal body, just as Admiral Clarke and Captain Walker, followed Doctor Taylor, and White who was helping Attwood up the stairs stepped onto Victory's deck, "Admiral, what brings you here?" she asked as she stood up to greet them.

"Well we came here to find you, we need to discuss your future as a military asset, we really have to..." Clarke trailed off, his attention caught by something behind Belfast, turning she saw why, as standing on Victory's raised quarterdeck, was a rather confused looking figure, "Is that who I think it is?" He queried, as the figure realized that all eyes were on them.

"Yes sir, it is" Belfast answered before turning back towards the naval personnel, studying the faces of those present, whilst Clarke, White and Attwood looked shocked at the sudden appearance of the figure, his reaction paled to the ones on the faces of Taylor, who was doing a rather good impression of a fish, opening her mouth as if to speak before closing it again, and Walker, who's jaw had dropped open at the sight, "Ladies and Gentlemen, May I present the legend herself, HMS Victory" Belfast announced, as Victory finally broke her silence.

"What the fuck just happened?!" Victory screamed, Belfast however just listened with satisfaction, if she wasn't going to help her before, now she'd have to now, after all, they were both in the same boat now.

* * *

 **Authors Notes**

 **So this one is a bit late, but it's a bit longer so I hope you don't mind, Feel free to give me your thoughts as all ways, you guys help me develop as a writer with your feedback.**


	5. Old friends

**October 10th, 2020 - Portsmouth Harbor - 12:15 Hrs - HMS Victory**

Victory watched Doctor Taylor as she bustled around her lab with interest, the woman seemed to be fascinated by her work, this was cutting-edge research which defied all known laws of physics after-all.

"I really am fascinated by this new evidence, it seems that an already summoned spirit, can pull another spirit back into the human realm, simply by interacting with it in the spirit realm, if it wasn't for the fact we're fighting against humanoid monster warships, hellbent on our destruction, I'd check myself into a looney bin" Taylor exclaimed as she surfaced from her microscope, where she had been examining a succession of samples.

"That's what we told you" the Ironclad HMS Warrior explained as she sat next to Victory, along with the two other spirits that had been summoned that morning, the first thing Victory had done since coming to terms with the fact that Belfast had managed to pull her into the human realm somehow, was to have her neighboring spirits summoned, Warrior, the monitor HMS M33 or Minerva as she prefered to be called, and the Amphion class submarine, HMS Alliance, overtly so that Doctor Taylor had more sources of information to work with, but in reality so that Victory didn't have to speak with Belfast, who even after 50 years since their last meeting, Victory still despised, and no matter how much had appeared to change, Victory still remembered as the blood-thirsty psychopath from the war, and with Belfast running some errand in Chatham, which left the four of them at Portsmouth with the good Doctor.

"Yes, but there are so many questions without answers, like why didn't Dragon come through when Belfast interacted with her? there must be a limit to what period we can summon ship spirit's from, I mean we have you and Victory here, both of you are at least 100-years-old each" Taylor replied gesturing to Warrior and Victory, who rolled their eyes at Taylor mentioning their age, "And then we have Alliance, who wasn't commissioned until 1947, then again she was launched in 1945, and both of you were around during the war, and our enemies seem to use WW2 tactics and technology, so maybe the war is the common factor" she declared, taking a deep breath after she finished, Victory however wished that something would interrupt the doctor before she started talking again.

"Ah Doctor, are you busy?" Clarke asked as he entered, granting Victory's wish, Taylor meanwhile looked surprised at the Admiral's appearance.

"Um, not right now sir, what do you need?" Taylor replied as she got to her feet, only for two sailors to enter carrying a stretcher, with a figure in a green jacket and skirt placed on it, Victory however, watched the scene and found herself getting a sense of Deja-vu, but she couldn't place the reason.

"Well, after Belfast sent the Abyssal's packing, I sent some people to secure any evidence that might be useful to you, and well.." Clarke explained, pausing to gesture at the woman on the stretcher, "They found her this morning, no ID on her and she's been unconscious the whole time, they tried to revive her to no avail, but she seems ok, just completely unconscious; I thought you might have better luck" he continued.

"Well I'll have a go sir, but I'm a scientist, not a surgeon, so don't hold out hope" Taylor explained as she moved to examine the Woman, "Well, she seems to be in her early 20's, no obvious injuries, and she seems to be breathing" she muttered to herself as she studied the woman, Victory however still couldn't shake the feeling that something was familiar with this woman, and so moved to take a closer look, the woman had caramel colored skin, with dark brown hair, Victory remembered the face somewhere, had she visited her when she'd been a museum? no that couldn't be right, but where had she seen that face before, and why did it involve Belfast, and suddenly all the pieces clicked into place.

"It can't be!" Victory exclaimed, catching both Clarke and Taylor's attention with her outburst as she stepped up next to the stretcher.

"Do you know her?" Clarke asked as Victory placed her hand on the woman shoulder, only for her suddenly began to stir from her sleep at the spirits touch, causing everyone to jump in surprise "What the hell, what did you do?" He blurted, turning to Victory so that she could explain herself.

"Well to answer your first question Admiral, I do know her, although the thing is that as I remember, she was scrapped in 1968" Victory answered, causing the two humans some confusion, until Victory explained exactly who it was on the stretcher, causing Taylor to squeal with glee before beginning to revising her theories factor in this new discovery, and for Clarke to quickly make his way to the communications center, he had to make an urgent call to Chatham.

* * *

 **October 10th, 2020 - Chatham - 12:15 Hrs - HMS Belfast**

Belfast took a deep breath as she prepared herself as she stood at the bottom of the gangplank, mentally reminding herself that what she was doing was the right thing, they needed every ship spirit, or as the press had dubbed them 'shipgirl's' that they had on hand and that of course meant that Belfast had to pay another old ally a visit.

"Are you ok ma'am?" Walker asked from behind, Belfast would have preferred Attwood or White over the American to have accompanied her here, but with both of them visiting their families, only Walker had been available.

"Yeah just thinking about what to say" Belfast replied, technically this was true, just not the whole truth, Cavalier already knew about Belfast's past, the question was, did she still hold a grudge? "But we're wasting time, so let's get it over already" she added as she started up the gangplank, trying to ignore the paparazzi as she did so, followed by Walker as they headed down Cavalier's deck.

"You think she's here?" Walker asked, referring to where Cavaliers spirit actually was on her hull at the time, as they arrived on the fantail of the destroyer, with Belfast sitting down just after what had been Y turret.

"Relax, she knows I'm here, Victory and the others did too" Belfast reminded him, before closing her eyes and concentrating until she felt that she was back in the spirit realm. Opening her eyes Belfast found however that the deck in front of her was empty, getting to her feet, Belfast began thinking of where Cavalier could be.

"Now if I was Cav, where would I..." Belfast pondered aloud, only to be interrupted by something grabbing onto her from behind.

"Belfast!" Cavalier screamed joyfully as she spun Belfast around before wrapping her arms around Belfast's waist to hug her, catching the cruiser off-guard, "Oh its so good to see you!" she exclaimed, as Belfast tried to work out what was happening.

"Cav, I think you overdid it a little" an unseen voice announced, before two figures stepped out from behind the turret, one in a Victorian style outfit like Warriors, only instead of a naval uniform, this one wore the clothes of a governess, with black hair and spectacles completing the look, and the other had a wetsuit like Alliance had, which identified her as a submarine.

"Now, why don't you let go of her and act your age" the governess suggested as she pulled Cavalier off of Belfast, the destroyer smiling sheepishly.

"Sorry Gannet" Cavalier replied sarcastically, as she slipped free of Gannets grip, "So Bel how's things?" She asked energetically, Belfast had remembered that the destroyer had been the energetic type, and clearly, that hadn't changed.

"Um, well..." Belfast began to reply, she had been expecting anger and contempt, not the warm welcome she was getting, so any of what she had planned to say, had gone out of the window.

"Huh, and here was me thinking the saviour of London couldn't be tripped up by a simple question" the submarine noted, who by process of elimination, was the Oberon class submarine HMS Ocelot.

"Oh, you heard about that" Belfast answered awkwardly, she felt like an outsider amongst the group, who had clearly developed a bond over their years as museums.

"Yeah, we heard, they probably shat themselves when you showed up!" Cavalier exclaimed, causing Belfast to smile slightly at the looks on the Abyssal's faces, "the only thing that annoys me, is that we didn't get to help you kick their teeth in, but I presume you being here has something to do with changing that" she smiled, clearly, she had an idea of what Belfast was here for.

"You're not wrong there Cav, the Navy wants all available shipgirls back in action, and you lot were first on the list" Belfast replied, not mentioning that she had been sent only to get Cavalier, and if possible Ocelot, but she didn't want to hurt the old sloops feelings.

"Great, so what do we have to do, you know to be 'summoned'?" Ocelot asked, stepping forwards.

"Actually, all I had to do was renter the spirit realm and interact with you lot, and you should be pulled through when I go back to the human realm" Belfast replied, which caused all three to smile, "You ready?" She asked, receiving nods from all three in return, and so Belfast closed her eyes and let her concentration go lax, transporting herself back into the human realm; opening her eyes once more Belfast saw Cavalier beaming back at her, Gannet was even smiling slightly, but turning to look at Ocelot, she found the submarine wasn't there.

"Hey, where's Ocey?" Cavalier asked concerned at the lack of her friend, Belfast wasn't sure why Ocelot hadn't come back with them, but she planned on finding out why.

"Hang on, I'll find out what's happened" Belfast replied, quickly closing her eyes again, and concentrating on Ocelot's spirit form, quickly she found herself back in the spirit realm, and opening her eyes found a confused looking Ocelot staring at her.

"What the hell? I thought you said all you had to do was speak with us, and we'd get pulled through when you went back!" Ocelot fumed, Belfast couldn't blame her.

"I don't know, maybe it has something to do with the war, Gannet and Warrior weren't commissioned during it but served as auxiliaries, and Alliance was laid down and launched during it, maybe because you were built in the 60's, you can't come through somehow" Belfast hypothesized, taking a page out of Doctor Taylor's book, Ocelot however looked like she was upset, "Hey I'll make sure that Cav, Gannet and some of the other non-combat girls come and visit sometimes, and I'll have someone see if they can figure out a way of summoning you" Belfast added, trying to cheer her up.

"Ok, just make sure the other understand what's happened, ok?" Ocelot requested, with Belfast nodding in reply as she began to close her eyes, "Hey one last thing before you go, I heard some rumours about you during the war, but Cav and Gannet never told me anything when I asked, how true are they?" she asked, only for Belfast's guilty face to answer her question, "Well, you seem to be better now anyway, and if you want to talk about anything, I'll be all ears, not like I have anything else to be doing" Ocelot offered.

"Thanks, Ocey, I'll keep it in mind" Belfast replied before closing her eyes and letting her concentration go lax; opening them to find Walker standing in front of her, with Cavalier and Gannet on either side of him.

"Hey, what just happened? you summoned these two, and then went back into that meditative state you go into whenever you go back into the 'spirit realm', is everything ok?" Walker asked sounding genuinely concerned.

"Yeah, Just Ocelot can't come through for some reason, I think it's because she was built in the 60's, but she's ok as long as she gets some visitors to keep her company and I'll tell Doctor Taylor when we get back to Portsmouth, and maybe she'll come up with something to fix the issue" Belfast explained as she got to her feet, Walker however shuffled awkwardly on his feet.

"Actually, we won't be going back to Portsmouth just yet, Admiral Clarke wants us to meet him in London for some reason, he didn't say why though" Walker announced as he began to make his way back towards the boarding ramp.

"Wait why are we going to London?" Belfast asked as she followed Walker, with Gannet and Cavalier falling in behind her.

"Search me, all I know is that it involves the Imperial War Museum and that it sounds important" Walker answered, leaving Belfast wondering what the Admiral was up to, clearly he knew something she didn't.

* * *

 **Authors notes**

 **Hey, so sorry this is late, I'm finishing the last of my college work before I go to University after the summer, so my writing has taken the backseat for the mommet, and before anyone wonders, No I won't stop writing when I'm at Uni, I'll be studying it after all, and anyway my Fanfic's might have helped get me in to Uni in the first place.**

 **Anyway, feel free to comment and review as always, see you next time as always.**


	6. Complications

**October 10th, 2020 - London - 13:02 Hrs - HMS Belfast**

Smoke still rose above London, even a day after Belfast had repulsed the Abyssal attack on the city, fires still burned as the fire brigades of London and multiple cities fought to bring them under control, however whilst the city had taken a battering some areas remained untouched, one of these was The Imperial War Museum, which was impressive as the area around it was pot marked with shell holes.

"Huh, not even a broken window!" Cavalier commented as the group passed through what was left of the main gate, Belfast had to agree with her on that, it was pretty impressive that the building hadn't suffered so much as a scratch in the attack.

"Ah, we've been expecting you, now I'm guessing your wondering why I had you brought here" Clarke explained walking up to meet them, with Victory, Warrior, Alliance and Minerva following behind him, but as Belfast noticed there was someone else behind them, but as they were obscured from view by the others, Belfast could only guess who they were.

"Well, yes we are Admiral, I don't suppose you could enlighten us?" Gannet asked politely, whilst keeping an eye on Cavalier, who was more interested in the shell craters than the conversation.

"Certainly, well earlier this morning, there was an interesting development regarding, well you" Clarke explained gesturing to the shipgirls around him, "And well, I think it's better to let her explain" he continued, with the shipgirls behind him parting to revealing a caramel skinned woman, wearing a green jacket and skirt.

"Hello Bel, I bet you weren't expecting to see me again" Gambia declared, smiling at the look of utter surprise on the other cruisers face.

"Gambi, how, how did you..." Belfast stammered, her brain racing to come up with an answer to how a ship scrapped in 1968, was standing in front of her.

"Well, the running theory is that because you were fitted with equipment removed from me when you were being made into a museum, when you turned up, I got pulled through by proxy" Gambia explained as she closed the distance to Belfast, "It's really good to see you by the way" she added pulling the other cruiser into a hug, "and I heard about what you did, I'm glad you finally got yourself together" Gambia whispered so no one else could hear, genuinely glad that Belfast, was no longer the self-loathing cruiser she'd known.

"Anyway, I had you brought here for an experiment" Clarke announced, drawing everyone's attention back to the present, "As you know, the navy didn't hang on to our ships from the war, with a few exceptions" he added gesturing to Belfast and Cavalier, "But there are some bits that remain of those great ships, specifically the two behind me" Clarke continued pointing to the pair of 15-inch guns behind him.

"I'm guessing you want to try and summon a scrapped spirit?" Cavalier queried, as Belfast stepped forward, guessing that the Admiral had someone specific in mind for this experiment.

"You would be correct, however, I would like Belfast to do the honour's for this if you wouldn't mind" Clarke replied, proving Belfast's suspicions correct, he probably thought her luck would be valuable in this endeavour, if only he knew the reality of her so-called 'luck'.

"Sure sir, anyone in particular?" Belfast asked, there were a choice of two, the Roberts-class Monitor, HMS Roberts, or the Revenge-class Battleship, HMS Resolution.

"Well, Resolution would be the more useful of the two; no offence" Clarke answered, apologizing to Minerva, who simply shrugged in reply, Monitors weren't that useful in anything other than fire support. Belfast simply nodded, closed her eyes and concentrated on the 15-inch gun in question, however, nothing happened, she couldn't make a connection in her mind no matter how hard she tried, she had known so many ships armed with that gun, Hood, Warspite, Vanguard.

"I'm sorry sir, I don't think it's going to work" Belfast apologized, opening her eyes in defeat, "I couldn't pick her out for some reason" she explained, Clarke however didn't look upset at all.

"It's ok, it was a long shot anyway so don't beat yourself up over it" Clarke replied turning to face the group, "anyway, whilst we're here how about you go have a look around the museum, whilst me and Captain Walker have a chat" He suggested to the assembled shipgirls, which as someone who had spent 50 years as a museum, seemed ironic to Belfast.

* * *

 **October 10th, 2020 - London - 13:29 Hrs - HMS Belfast**

Strolling around the museum, Belfast found it odd to be the visitor to a museum, normally she had watched visitors as they went about looking at displays, so to be the visitor for a change was a new feeling.

"hey come and look what I've found!" Minerva shouted, as Belfast looked at the interior of a partially sectioned JadgPanther, curiously Belfast and the others followed where they had seen Minerva go, finding her in front of a display of badges, specifically ship badges, "Look at this, they're on loan from Greenwich, look there Swiftsure, Renown, and Nelson as well" she explained as the others started looking at the badges as well, Belfast however found her focus drawn to one badge in particular, a white rose on a dark blue background, the emblem of the battleship HMS Duke of York, she remembered her well, the way she could work out any mathematical problem in seconds, her straw blonde hair, the white and dark blue coat/dress she had always worn, she remembered everyone who'd been at North Cape in detail, she could practically see her in her mind, and the more she looked at the badge the clearer the image became and then her vision suddenly went white, the last thing she heard was someone scream her name, before all her sense's stopped working.

* * *

 **October 10th, 2020 - ? - ?:? Hrs - HMS Belfast**

When Belfast came to, she found herself lying face down on a wooden floor, struggling to her feet groggily Belfast found herself surrounded by what seemed like fog, only strangely it seemed to stop short of the wood, however as Belfast looked closer she realized she was standing on a wood deck, and by the fact the deck seemed to curve towards a flagpole, the deck of a warship, probably the bow by the way it was shaped, and turning around Belfast realized exactly where she was, the quad 14-inch gun turret was a dead giveaway.

"What the fuck!" Belfast exclaimed aloud, utterly confused as to what was happening, one second, she had been in the Imperial War Museum, now she was on the deck of a King George V-class Battleship, probably Duke of York since it was what she'd been thinking about, speaking of which where was she, every spirit she'd encountered had been there to greet her, so where was she. Curious Belfast started towards the superstructure determined to find her, "Now if I was Yorkie where would I be?" she wondered aloud as she stepped through the open hatch, she'd start with the bridge.

After what seemed like hours Belfast, was starting to wonder if she'd ever find Duke of York, she'd checked the bridge, the mess, all three gun turrets, the engine room and all of the crew quarters, from ratings to admirals, and all had been empty, finally she decided to try transmitting station and there lying across the Admiralty Fire Control Table, was a peacefully sleeping Duke of York.

"Yorkie, I finally found you" Belfast sighed triumphantly, only to be slightly concerned when Duke of York didn't respond, "Yorkie?" she asked nervously as she stepped towards the sleeping battleship, gently placing her hand on Duke of York's shoulder, whose eyes immediately shot open at Belfast's touch, and then everything went white again the light forcing her to shut her eyes to shield them. Only when Belfast opened her eyes again, she found was lying on her back staring at a ceiling, surrounded by her fellow shipgirls, as well as Admiral Clarke and Captain Walker, all of whom even Victory looked concerned.

"Belfast! oh my god you gave us such as scare when you collapsed, are you alright?" Warrior asked as she and Minerva helped her into a sitting position.

"Ugh, I'm fine, how long was I out?" Belfast replied, curious as to how long she'd been really trapped in whatever she'd been in.

"About 10 minutes, what was that anyway?" Alliance answered, receiving a shrug from Belfast, all she remembered doing was looking at Duke of York's badge and then everything had gone weird.

"Well next time you think of doing whatever you just did, give us some warning, you really freaked us out" Gambia stressed, however when Belfast turned to face her, she noticed something lying on the floor behind Gambia.

"Um, guys, what's that?" Belfast asked, drawing everyone's attention to the object, gingerly Cavalier moved to inspect, only for her mouth to drop open as she realized what it was.

"Holy shit! Its HMS Duke of York!" Cavalier declared, the sound of surprise in her voice matching the look on her face.

"Belfast what did you do?" Clarke asked, his face a mixture of confusion, Joy and curiosity, as all eyes fell on the cruiser in question.

"Erm, well..." Belfast began not quite knowing where to start, as Duke of York began to stir, things had just gotten complicated very fast.

* * *

 **Authors notes**

 **So your probably wondering why I didn't go with 'summoning from only a piece' the reason being when we get to ship girls that were sunk, you must remember that not all of their wrecks have been found (some are still being found today), or that their wrecks have been salvaged (e.g. HMS York), my method is just covering all the bases.**

 **Anyway feel free to comment and review, I really enjoy hearing back from you guys.**


	7. Developments

**October 10th, 2020 - Portsmouth- 15:02 Hrs - HMS Belfast**

It was mid-afternoon by the time Belfast got back to Portsmouth, and as the car drew to a halt, Belfast slowly climbed out from the backseat, politely refusing any assistance from Gambia or Cavalier; ever since she accidentally summoned Duke of York she had been feeling surprisingly weak, and all she wanted to do was lie down and sleep, however, Admiral Clarke had ordered her to see Doctor Taylor for an examination, and as she had technically collapsed only a few hours ago, Belfast had chosen not to argue, however as Belfast entered Taylor's lab she found the doctor fussing over a pile of objects laid out on a table, holding an old Semi-acoustic guitar in her hands, a very familiar semi-acoustic guitar.

"Hey, that's mine! where the hell did you get" Belfast demanded, causing Taylor to jump as a result, fortunately though she didn't drop the instrument in question.

"Oh, Belfast, I wasn't expecting you so soon" Taylor replied as she placed the guitar back on the table before turning to face the cruiser, "So I heard about Duke of York and that you collapsed as a result, mind telling me what happened?" She asked picking up a pen and a notepad, no doubt to take notes.

"Only if you tell me how you have my stuff!" Belfast replied, moving to inspect the objects laid out on the table, which looked to be everything she'd kept with her during her time as a museum, her attention was however focused on looking for one old kit bag in particular, and noting that the knot holding it shut was still intact, she turned to face the doctor.

"Oh, well after you turned up Admiral Clarke sent some people to gather any evidence to explain what happened, and as well as Gambia, they found this lot" Taylor explained gesturing to the objects on the table, "I was just cataloguing your guitar when you arrived, you wouldn't happen to know what model it is?, I've got to list exactly what everything is" She added, pointing to a form listing most of what was laid out on the table, but as Belfast noted that the kit bag hadn't been marked down yet.

"As I recall, it's a Gibson ES-175, I only know that because the guy who owned the original guitar that one's based on, wouldn't shut up about it, which was ironic because he was shit at playing it" Belfast replied, picking up the form, getting a curious look from Taylor "I'll fill this out if you don't mind, it's my stuff after all so I know exactly what everything is" She explained as she folded the paper and stuffed into her pocket.

"Eh, no problem, less work on my hands, now I've been told you have been feeling weak after summoning Duke of York, is that right" Taylor replied, getting back on track, receiving a nod from Belfast in return, before she reached for a beaker of a dark black liquid and handed it to Belfast "Here drink this" She ordered Belfast, who whilst slightly concerned obeyed, only to immediately spit up the liquid the minute she realized what the liquid was.

"What the fuck! why'd you give me oil!?" Belfast demanded as she coughed up any of the oil left in her mouth, accepting the bottle of water handed to her by Taylor, so that she could rinse out her mouth.

"So that's a no to the oil then" Taylor muttered to herself as she made a note on the pad, before reaching for an intercom system that Belfast hadn't noticed before "can you send it in please?" she asked, causing Belfast to groan at whatever the good doctor had planned, only to be surprised and slightly confused when a sailor entered carrying a tray stacked high with plates and bowls packed full of food, "well? dig in already" Taylor explained to her as the sailor placed the tray down in front of Belfast, before leaving without saying a word, Belfast however simply sighed before picking up the cutlery on the tray and beginning to eat.

"I don't get what the point of this? I mean what's me eating food going to achieve?" Belfast asked in between mouths of food, Taylor however simply watched on a mixture of amusement and curiosity on her face; eventually, Belfast found that she could eat no more, and placed her cutlery down on the tray, she was about to say that this newest idea was as daft as the first, only for her to notice that she felt a lot better, like she had after she'd had a full resupply when she had still been just a warship.

"Better?" Taylor asked, receiving a nod from Belfast, confirming that she felt better, "Excellent! the only problem now is working out a way to support you girls with enough food to keep you operational" She noted, which surprised Belfast, why would they need to do that, there was more than enough food to go around, only for her to notice the now empty tray.

"Wait how did I do that? I thought I only ate one plate?" Belfast asked confused as to how she had consumed an entire trays worth of food, without even noticing.

"Eh, at this point anything is possible with you girls" Taylor answered, only for Minerva to burst in, looking concerned.

"Hey, Doc we might have a problem?" Minerva explained as Gambia and Duke of York followed her in, looking slightly sheepish "it turns out this pair can't summon their rigging for some reason" she continued, as Gambia and Yorkie milled around awkwardly.

"Hmm, well they were scrapped, so that could explain it, but fixing this issue is going to take time, from the chemical analysis I performed on the other sets of rigging, the structure is made up of oil, steel and a specially treated kind of bauxite, now the first two we can get easily, but the bauxite is going to take some time as we need it to be imported over and to be treated so that it is useful, and in a quantity that we can use" Taylor explained, causing the pair's shoulders to drop in disappointment, they had been hoping for a quick fix.

"Excuse me, ma'am, am I interrupting?" a lieutenant asked as she entered, her eyes glancing around the room before settling on Belfast, "It's just that Admiral Clarke needs to see Belfast immediately" she explained, leaving Belfast to wonder exactly what the admiral had planned for her.

* * *

 **October 10th, 2020 - Portsmouth- 15:25 Hrs - HMS Belfast**

When Belfast arrived however, she found that along with Clarke, Captain Walker was also present, and by the shit-eating grin on his face, whatever she was about to be told clearly benefitted him, the question was however, how was this going to affect her?

"Ah, Belfast please take a seat, would you care for a drink?" Clarke offered, gesturing to a bottle of Rum on his desk, which Belfast nodded, signifying her acceptance of the offer, even she knew that you never turned down the offer of a drink by a superior, before taking a seat opposite Walker "Now I suppose you're wondering why I called you here" he continued, pouring a glass and handing it to Belfast, who having never drunk any alcohol before, but knowing what it was capable of, took a tentative sip of the dark gold liquid, gagging as the liquid made her mouth momentarily feel like it was on fire, only for the feeling to dissipate as quickly as it had taken hold, leaving only a pleasant aftertaste in her mouth.

"You're correct there Admiral" Belfast answered as she took a larger sip of the rum, Clarke however nodded before standing and walking over to a large wall map detailing the entire planet, the oceans and seas of which were shaded in a mixture of orange and red ink, with some streaks of yellow and a few tiny areas in green.

"This as you can see is a map of the world's oceans, now red is areas in which nobody can operate due to the threat of attack, now the most important areas of note are the Baltic, which is so packed full of enemy submarines and aircraft, that even our own subs daren't operate there due to the shallowness of the water and risk of attack, the Black Sea for the same reasons as the Baltic, and the area surrounding the Island of Midway, which intelligence believes is a major abyssal base; however, we haven't been able to get perfect information due to a massive storm that's been raging over the area since the bastards seized the place a few months back" Clarke explained, stopping to check that Belfast was following, which she was. "Anyway, the orange and yellow areas are ones where abyssal's are present, but that we can operate in, with the two signifying the level of abyssal presence there, with orange being high and yellow being low, areas in which the colours overlap are somewhere in the middle of the two. Finally, of course, you may have also noticed that there are a few speaks of green dotted around, these are some of the few areas that the abyssal's don't operate in, the largest being the area around Bikini Atoll, scientists think it's because of the background radiation, but since nobody has become desperate enough to use nuclear arms, its theoretical at this point!" he continued leaving Belfast with one question, why was she being told this.

"Um, Admiral, might I ask why you're telling me this?" Belfast asked, Clarke however, glanced at Walker before returning to Belfast.

"Well, it's because you and the other shipgirls are possibly the only chance that humanity has against the abyssal's, but we are going to need all hands on deck for that, and to do that we're going to need to summon as many combat capable shipgirls as possible as soon as possible" Clarke answered, giving Belfast a very good idea of what was planned for her.

"And to do that, we need to summon every WW2 vintage museum ship there is, and we have decided that you should have that honour!" Walker explained as he rose from his seat, "So pack your bags Belfast because your heading stateside!" he gleefully added, leaving Belfast wondering one thing, if she was going to be summoning the American's, what the hell was going to happen when she got to Texas?

* * *

 **Authors notes**

 **So writer's block is still the bain of my existence, but I think I've got through it so that's good. Anyway feel free to comment and review as usual, and I'll try to get the next chapter up on time**


	8. Stateside

**October 10th, 2020 - New York - 18:15 Hrs - HMS Belfast**

As the plane's tires touched down on the Tarmac, mentally Belfast sighed with relief, ever since she'd been told she would be flying to the states, internally she had been on edge, she was a warship after all, and the thought of flying 30,000 feet above an ocean, in a pressurized metal tube, which could easily explode if, for example, someone shot at them, terrified her, but externally she had kept herself the definition of calmness, it seemed she was a natural at burying her true emotions; slowly the plane came to a halt, the damped roar of the planes twin engines dying soon after, followed by the sound of Captain Walker rising from his seat and stretching to release the cramp that had built up over the 7 hour flight, quickly Belfast unfastened her seat belt, before moving to get her small bag from the overhead locker, which contained only a change of clothes, something to sleep in, and some bare essentials.

"C'mon there should be a car waiting" Walker announced as he led the way towards the door, with Belfast following quietly out into the rain pulling up her hood as she stepped out onto the stairs, "What the hell?!" Walker exclaimed, drawing Belfast's attention to the bottom of the stairs, revealing a man in a suit holding an umbrella and a few marines, that were all that was waiting to greet them, "I thought the Admiral was going to meet us?" Walker asked the man, who simply sighed before answering.

"The Admiral has other matters to attend to, namely preparations for tomorrow" the man replied in a flat, emotionless tone, which gave Belfast a bad feeling.

"Alright, so where's the car to take Belfast to her hotel?" Walker asked, causing the man to smile, and not in a friendly way.

"Actually, it's been decided that it will be staying on base, in the research centre, where our people can observe her" The man replied, catching Belfast off-guard, ever since she'd turned up she'd been treated with respect by everyone she'd met, but this asshole clearly hadn't got the memo, especially since he'd just caller 'it'.

"To hell with that! if you're going to treat her like an object, then I'll handle her myself" Walker exclaimed, before gesturing for Belfast to follow only for the man to shake his head, before pulling out a piece of paper, as the marines moved to block their path, none of them looking quite happy with what they must have been ordered to do.

"You won't be doing anything Captain, I have orders stating I am to take possession of the asset" The man announced holding up the order, with Belfast immediately noticing that instead of a U.S Navy crest, was the C.I.A's emblem, and not that. but that he'd called her an object again, "So unless you want to answer to my people, you will leave us to our business!" he continued before turning to Belfast, only to eat a strong right hook to the jaw from the cruiser, not hard enough to kill, but only just.

"Actually, unless you want to find out what it feels like to get hit by twelve 6-inch guns, you'll leave me and Captain Walker alone, Clear?!" Belfast snarled, catching Walker off-guard, ever since he'd met Belfast, she'd never been anything other than a calm, if slightly nervous/confused person, but in his opinion, the punch had been deserved; the man however, didn't reply, he was more concerned clutching his jaw and trying to work out if he still had all his teeth, the marines meanwhile took one look at Belfast, then at the man, before moving to let the pair past.

"You two go ahead, we'll deal with Agent Spenser" The lead marine stated, as two of them moved to pick up the writhing body "I apologize for any trouble caused, but we had our orders" the man apologised, Walker however simply blanked the man, Belfast however couldn't even make eye contact, she was too embarrassed by her outburst, she had just decked a CIA agent, and no matter how good it had felt, she shouldn't have thrown it.

"Remind me never to piss you off!" Walker remarked jokingly as he led her towards a car park, "Don't worry about Spenser, he's had it coming for years!" he added as he pulled a phone from his pocket and began to type out a quick message.

"You're not cross? Belfast asked as they arrived at the Captain's car, an old hatchback.

"Nah, Spenser's a total asshole, I first met that sob back when I was a Commander aboard the George Washington, I had the displeasure of being debriefed by him" Walker explained as they got in, putting their bags on the back seat.

"Hey, where are we heading anyway? it's a bit late to book a hotel isn't it" Belfast noted, Walker however only smiled as the car moved off.

"Relax, I know a place with a bed free" Walker explained as he steered the car towards the exit, leaving Belfast wondering exactly what he meant.

* * *

 **October 10th, 2020 - New York - 18:53 Hrs - HMS Belfast**

Forty minutes later, Belfast found herself being driven through one of New York's suburbs, mercifully the rain had finally stopped, which meant Belfast didn't have to put up with the annoying squeak of the car's windscreen wipers, finally though Walker pulled the car up in front of a house, and grabbing his bag got out, with Belfast following.

"Here we are, it's not the Ritz but it's better than whatever they had planned for you" Walker announced as he stepped towards the door, "Oh and by the way, you might wanna stand by to repel boarders!" he added as he opened the door.

"Wait what do you mean by..." Belfast began to ask, only to be interrupted by the sound of running, followed by a pair of screams.

"Daddy!" Two children, a boy and a girl, screamed as they leapt at Walker, who immediately knelt down to embrace the pair and lifted them up in one fluid motion, and all without dropping his bag.

"How are my little monkeys then, have you been good for mommy?" Walker cooed as he stepped inside, receiving shakes of heads from the pair, prompting a laugh from the man "that's my kids!" he laughed as he put the pair down, "Now I need you to be on your best behaviour, we have a guest tonight" Walker explained gesturing to Belfast, who had remained outside; the kids however, could only gasp when they realized Belfast was there, clearly they had heard about her, and Before Belfast could react, found she had two pairs of arms locked around her waist.

"Huggers aren't they" Belfast noted aloud, as she struggled to enter the house and shut the door behind her, she could see why Walker had picked them up, having two kids locked around her waist really restricted movement, Walker however could only chuckle at the sight, only for the final member of the family to make an appearance.

"Honey what have I told you about bringing gorgeous women home?" A woman asked making everyone apart from Walker jump slightly, Walker however simply sighed before turning to face the woman.

"That I'll be sleeping on the couch!" Walker replied, before pulling the woman in for a kiss, prompting comically noises of disgust from the children, finally the two separated, allowing the woman to turn her attention to the kids.

"Peter, Rose, I think our guest would like to move her legs now" the woman suggested in a motherly voice, prompting the two children to release their grip on Belfast's legs, finally allowing her to move, "I'm Mary by the way" she explained before pulling Belfast into a short hug, "now there's no need to explain, Francis, texted me and told me what happened" Mary added as she led Belfast into the house, where Francis was playing with his kids.

"Yeah, I'd rather not talk about it" Belfast replied as she followed Mary into the kitchen, where the kettle was just reaching boiling point.

"Ha, you sound like Francis when he first met that jerk" Mary noted as she picked the kettle up off of its stand and began to pour out three mugs of coffee "Do you have milk in yours?" she asked receiving a nod from Belfast, "Anyway don't worry about Spenser, he's a total slimeball, the man always has an agenda and its never in anyone else's interest" Mary explained as she handed Belfast her cup, before taking hers, leaving a single cup for Walker on the kitchen counter.

"Yeah, that seems like a fair assessment" Belfast replied as she leant against the wall as she drank her cup of coffee "Captain Walker never mentioned you guys?" she added, prompting a smile from Mary.

"Yeah, that's my Husband for you, always keeping his private life, well private" Mary noted as she watched her husband carry his kids to bed, "anyway I better show you your room" she added, as she led Belfast upstairs, past the kids rooms, where Walker had already put Peter, who looked to be the older of the pair to bed and was currently tucking Rose in "Here we are, the Bathrooms just across the hall, and if you need me or Francis we'll be upstairs" Mary explained, gesturing to the guest room.

"Thanks, Mrs Walker" Belfast replied as she set her bag down on the floor next to the bed.

"Please call me Mary, I'm not the formal type" Mary reminded Belfast as she turned to leave, shutting the door on the way out, leaving Belfast alone in the guest bedroom; sighing to herself, Belfast looked at the bed, despite having been summoned nearly two days ago, Belfast hadn't actually slept once in the entire time, and didn't feel like she needed any in the immediate future, Belfast turned and locked the door, before changing into her night clothes, a t-shirt and shorts and climbed into bed, only to fall asleep as soon as her head touched the pillow.

* * *

 **October 1?th, 2020 - ? ? ? - ? ?:? ? Hrs - HMS Belfast**

A muffled sound was the first thing Belfast heard, looking around herself she found not the Walker's house, but metal bulkheads and decking, quickly she realised she was back aboard her metal body, she knew she was dreaming, but the sound had peaked her curiosity and so she followed, at a walk at first, but as the sound became clearer, her pace quickened, until she was at a run, climbing higher through her decks until she burst on to her deck, just in time to see the Tower of London collapse in front of her, quickly she scanned the surroundings, finding only a lone unknown abyssal was the cause, Belfast willed her guns to blow it apart, and with one huge crescendo, her guns fired obscuring the Abyssal in a cloud of smoke, only when it cleared the Abyssal was still there, staring at her, its face obscured somehow, and then the Abyssal started moving towards her, with Belfast's follow up broadsides only making it quicken its pace, until it leapt at Belfast before she could react, grabbing her with talon like fingers which clawed at her flesh, pulling her towards it, and as Belfast finally saw its face, the evil in its black eyes, the short crop of hair on its head, and a face that Belfast knew all too well, she saw it every time she looked in a mirror, and before Belfast could do anything, her vision went black.

Belfast awoke with a gasp, sweat running down her brow, quickly she looked around herself and spotting a mirror, dashed over to look at herself, only to breathe a sigh of relief when she saw her eyes were still their normal greenish-grey colour, signifying that she was still in control, but that just left one other question, what exactly had just happened? she'd had nightmares before, but not like that, they had never felt so, real? quickly she glanced at the phone the Navy had given her and seeing that it was only 3 am and that she hadn't woken anyone up, she weighed up her options, she could either stay awake and sit in her room till morning, or go back to sleep and risk the nightmares again, then she spotted something glinting in the moonlight from her bag, and moving to inspect further, found a bottle of rum with a note attached, which read 'Just in case the Yanks get annoying! - Clarke' The Admiral must have stuck it in her bag before she had left as a gift, but just as Belfast was about to put the bottle back where she'd found it, a thought entered her head, she'd seen men drink before to forget before, and it must have been doing something right, and so Belfast instead found herself unscrewing the cap, and with some trepidation, emptied a mouthful down her throat before resealing it and putting it back, before nervously climbing back into bed, hoping that this time, the nightmares would be kept at bay.

* * *

 **Authors notes**

 **Yeah, that did just happen, Feel free to comment and review as usual, and I'll be back soon with chapter 9.**


	9. Carriers and Commanders

**October 11th, 2020 - New York - 08:31 Hrs - HMS Belfast**

It was morning when Belfast crept downstairs, intending to get a cup of coffee to mask the smell of the rum on her breath, only to find Walker and Mary talking quietly in the kitchen.

"Morning, Coffee?" Mary asked as she put two steaming cups down on the counter, Belfast simply nodded, pretending to be still half asleep so that she didn't have to speak, after all, what she'd thought was a mouthful of rum the night before had turned out to be a quarter of the bottle.

"So, Belfast are you ready for today?" Walker asked as Mary handed Belfast a cup full of coffee, who took a quick mouthful before answering.

"Um, I guess, I know I'm here to get Intrepid but that guy last night mentioned something was being prepared for today" Belfast replied as she took a seat opposite the pair.

"Ah right, there's a ceremony being planned for the summoning, just some flag waving, a bit of music, a few ex-presidents, and an open buffet" Walker explained as he reached for his cup, "Anyway you better finish that quick, traffics going to be a pain in Manhattan so we'll want to get a move on" Walker added before emptying the cup and pulled on his dress jacket.

"Ok, well whilst you two do that, I'm going to make sure Peter and Rose are ready and then we'll get going" Mary added as she made her way towards the stairs, Belfast however simply sat and drank her cup, hoping for a quiet day.

* * *

 **October 11th, 2020 - New York, USS Intrepid - 09:35 Hrs - HMS Belfast**

If Belfast had thought the celebrations in Portsmouth had been big, they had nothing on the scene around Intrepid, it seemed like the whole of the US had turned up to watch, hundreds of people were chanting 'USA!, USA!' with every breath, many more were waving countless numbers of the American flag, although as Belfast could see, there was the odd Union Flag in amongst them, above them the US Navy's Blue Angels were putting on a display for the fans, and all the while the Navy Band were playing music, Some more modern numbers, but also some older ones such as There's a Star-Spangled Banner Waving Somewhere, that they were currently playing, a song which Belfast hadn't heard since the war, in her opinion all that was needed was a bald eagle to appear carrying the stars and stripes and it would be the most American thing possible, but since this wasn't a cartoon, said bird didn't appear.

"Man, they really pulled out all the stops!" Walker noted as they made their way towards the entrance for VIP's, with Belfast wearing his hat and coat so that the paparazzi didn't bother them along the way.

"Well it's been a few months since anything good has happened" Mary noted quietly as she led Peter and Rose up the gang plank, what Belfast hadn't known before they'd left in the car sent to pick them up, was that Mary was actually a Navy Doctor who had been assigned to the Local Veterans hospital, "Ok kids, say bye to Daddy" she asked as they reached the point that they would part ways, Rose and Peter knew the drill and turned to hug their father, whilst Belfast, now safe from the paparazzi, for the time being, removed the disguise she had on.

"Bye Daddy, see you soon" Peter and Rose cooed before releasing their grip on Walker and scampered off with Mary following closely, whilst Walker and Belfast headed the other way, with the man taking back his hat and coat as they walked, finally the pair reached the carrier's wardroom, which was packed with Admirals, officers and politicians, and off to one side was Agent Spenser, talking with an Admiral, nursing an impressive looking black eye, the man seeing her arrive, pointed Belfast out to the Admiral in-question, causing Belfast to bristle at the sight, only for Walker to steer her into a seat, before heading over to tell Spenser exactly what he thought about him.

"So, you're the girl who's responsible for this whole show" a voice noted, causing Belfast to turn, only to find former Presidents Barrack Obama and George W Bush standing opposite her, "I presume we don't need to introduce ourselves!" Obama added joyfully as Bush gave her a friendly smile.

"No, I know who you are, please take a seat" Belfast replied gesturing to the chairs around her, with both of the ex-presidents taking her up on the offer.

"May I just say that it is a pleasure to meet you, ma'am" Bush offered as he gave her his hand, which Belfast shook graciously, followed by Obama's, "So how are you enjoying your visit?" he asked "other than your meeting with Agent Spenser" he added, prompting Belfast to glance over, just in time to see Walker verbally tearing Spenser a new one, as several people listened eagerly, clearly word had spread about last night, and by the way no-one was coming to Spenser's aid, nobody was siding with him.

"So far, it's been very nice, apart from him!" Belfast answered as Spenser was surrounded by Walker, two Admiral's, an Air Force General and Several Marines "Captain Walker's family was extremely hospitable" she added, as the Marines picked up Spenser and carried him away in the direction of the brig.

"Yeah, in my experience the CIA can be a mixed bag, on the one hand you have the ones who helped hunt down Bin Laden" Obama mused, as Belfast remembered that day in 2005 when London had itself been attacked "And on the other hand, we have people like, well him!" He gestured as Spenser was carried out, screaming into the gag someone had wisely put in his mouth, clearly, he'd pissed everyone off with his antic's.

"Ah Belfast, I see your getting acquainted with some of our former commanding chiefs" Walker noted as he sat down next to her, shaking hands with both men opposite him "and you don't have to worry about Spenser, turns out the Navy didn't know what he tried and that the CIA is in the shit!" he added as the rest of the officers went back to socialising.

"Yes we were just seeing how she's enjoying her visit so far" Obama explained as they all began chatting amongst themselves, Walker about his family, Bush about his painting, Obama even weighed in with some of his jokes, and Belfast just sat there listening and answering questions without telling anyone of her past persona, or indeed the nightmares of last night, until finally, the PA system crackled to life.

* * *

 **Authors Notes**

 **Ok so this is short even for me, Thing is I have only a few days to write this and I've been a bit lazy, so I've written this as a two part, I've also tried to keep it polictally neutral, with Obama and Bush, so feel free to review as usual and I'll try to have a longer one for you next time.**


	10. Fighting I

**October 11th, 2020 - New York, USS Intrepid - 09:35 Hrs - HMS Belfast**

As Belfast stood at the doorway, joined by Captain Walker, Obama and Bush, along with countless other officers, she could feel knots in what counted for her stomach. Summoning Victory had been an accident, and the other Portsmouth residents, Cavalier and Gannet, had been a rush job with no pomp or ceremony. But here, she was going to be summoning someone she had never met in front of a large, expecting crowd, so she was slightly nervous she would do something wrong, embarrassing or both. Finally, the PA system crackled to life, announcing the officers as they stepped out onto the flight deck, receiving cheers and applause from the audience. They were followed by Bush and Obama, who got even bigger cheers than the officers, leaving only herself and Captain Walker waiting to go.

"You'll do fine Belfast," Walker told her reassuringly, having noticed that Belfast wasn't looking all that confident.

"That's easy for you to say, I'm the one doing the damn thing," Belfast replied as she tried to get herself ready for what lay ahead, just as the announcer came to her on his list.

"...And finally, the one who made all this possible, so please give a warm welcome to the British light cruiser, HMS Belfast," the announcer stated as Belfast emerged through the door, receiving the largest cheers by far, to which she replied to with an awkward wave. She really wasn't ready for this, but she wasn't getting any practice. However, instead of being directed to a vacant chair, the announcer, who was surprisingly a four-star admiral, beckoned for her to take the podium that had been placed in front of the assembled VIP's. Belfast mentally panicked; nobody had mentioned a speech. The only thing like this she'd done since turning up was the press conference in Portsmouth, and that had just been her giving answering questions, lying when necessary. But this would be completely different; she'd be thinking on her feet and hopefully not letting any of secrets out in the process, but once again, she steeled herself as best she could and nervously took the podium.

"Um, thank you for the warm greeting. I'd like to say I prepared a speech, but I didn't get the chance," Belfast began, clearing her head and beginning to think about what she was going to say "I'd like to say how privileged I am to stand here, speaking to all of you; It's a lot more fun than just sitting around talking to myself!" she joked, getting a few chuckles from the audience. "I came into this reality three days ago, exactly how I have no idea, and I'm sure that there are scientists out there trying to answer that question right now. But ever since then I have been warmly welcomed by everyone I've met," Belfast continued, deliberately skipping the confrontation with Agent Spencer the night before, "and all I can say is thank you all, and I hope I can help you in return," she concluded, getting another round of applause which surprised Belfast. Personally, she thought the speech had been terrible.

"Thank you for that. Now, as you know, we are here to summon the first American shipgirl, the first of many we can hope," the admiral continued as Belfast backed away from the podium, "And now if you would do the honours and summon USS Intrepid?" he asked. All eyes fell once more on Belfast, who nodded before she knelt down, something she hoped looked more formal than sitting on Intrepid's deck, closed her eyes and began to concentrate. She felt the transfer back to the spirit realm, opening her eyes to find the deck absent of the carrier in question. But as she got to her feet she felt two arms wrap around her waist and pick her up.

"Awww you're just so cute!" Intrepid squealed as she held Belfast in her arms. Belfast meanwhile gasped as she tried to wiggle out of the carrier's grip.

"Well this is ironic, it's usually the Americans that come to the help of you Brits!" she continued as Belfast finally freed herself and turned to face the carrier, finding a pale-skinned figure with dirty blonde hair, a round face, and wearing a black jacket and khaki shirt and skirt, grinning back at her. "So you're the legendary HMS Belfast. To be honest, I've never heard anything about you before, even Tex didn't tell me anything when I asked," Intrepid noted as she straightened a strand of her hair. Belfast mentally breathed a sigh of relief. Of all the people she'd expected to talk, Texas had been top of that list.

"Yeah, well, there's not much to say really, but I think we should get this over with so the Americans can brief you," Belfast replied trying to get the excitable carrier into the Navy's hands. Intrepid however simply smiled.

"Eh, it doesn't look like they'd mind us taking a few more minutes," Intrepid pointed out, gesturing to the audience watching, who Belfast had only just noticed were almost frozen in place.

"Huh, never noticed that before," Belfast muttered to herself as Intrepid stepped up next to Belfast and rested her hand on the smaller ship.

"You've never noticed that before have you?" Intrepid teased. Belfast quickly brushed Intrepid's hand off of her shoulder before turning to reply.

"Well, I've been a bit distracted to notice," Belfast retorted as she looked around, taking the opportunity to see the slow-moving crowds, the warships in the Hudson, and the planes flying above New York. "Look, I'm not the best at explaining the situation, mostly because I don't really understand it yet myself, but the Navy will have any answers for you, so can we get back to why I'm here?" she asked, getting a sigh from Intrepid.

"If you insist! Is there anything I need to do?" Intrepid asked. Belfast thought quickly, then smiled.

"Yeah, just stand still, smile and wave!" Belfast replied as she let her concentration lapse, and felt herself transfer back to the human realm. She opened her eyes to find Intrepid in front of her, looking perplexed, only for the carrier to jump as a massive cheer broke out, followed by the band breaking into the song, The Liberty Bell, as cameras blazed. But then a new sound began to play, at first drowned out by the sounds. But as more and more heard it, they stopped making noise, until all that remained was that piercing wail, a sound that struck alarm into the minds of those who heard it.

"Air raid!" Several marines shouted as civilians ran for the protection of the interior of the carrier. The intruders screamed into view, a squadron of abyssal craft at wave-top level, which explained how they had got this close undetected, and noticing that there were bombs and torpedos slung under them, identified them as bombers. Seeing this Belfast summoned her rigging and drew her 4-inch guns. Her 40mm's, which she had discovered were mounted on her rigging, whined as they were brought to bear.

"Wait, how did you do that?!" Intrepid asked as she stared at Belfast, not understanding how she had summoned her rigging.

"Just think about it, and order it to be readied for combat. The rest is natural," Belfast replied as she took aim, waiting for her target to be in range before opening up. She sent flak into the lead group, followed by her Bofors and the weapons of the warships, and surprisingly the marines who had drawn weapons themselves.

"Ok, so just think about it and..." Intrepid muttered, concentrating on her rigging and ordering it to summon, only to find a smaller scale version of her flight deck behind her left shoulder, and a navy blue Springfield rifle in her right hand. "What the hell!? what am I supposed to do with this?!" she exclaimed as she stared at the rifle.

"I don't know, figure it out!" Belfast replied, as her guns splashed a target, breaking up the formation. The ships in the harbour, a Ticonderoga and two Arleigh Burkes, shredded the formations, but some abyssal torpedo bombers broke through the screen and were about to make their run, when the Blue Angels, despite being unarmed, dove in, making a mock attack run and scaring them off. But then Belfast's radar picked up surface contacts entering the Hudson, and judging by the way the American ships moved forwards, she realised she hadn't been the only one to detect them. "C'mon, we've got to back the Navy up!" Belfast shouted de-summoning her rigging as she dashed for the stairs down to the waterline, followed by Intrepid, and was about to jump off when Walker called out to them.

"Hey, you might need these!" Walker announced as he pressed an earpiece into both Belfast's and Intrepids hands. "These will let you communicate with the Navy," he explained as both of them inserted the earpieces, hearing the voices of the ships radio operators, which was only for their benefits as the three ships could communicate with their computers.

"Make sure Mary and the kids are ok," Belfast replied, earning a smile from Walker, before she hopped over the side and summoned her rigging, landing on the later below, Intrepid landing alongside her. "Ok you hang back whilst I work the front," she ordered Intrepid as they raced towards the Abyssals.

"Be advised, contacts consist of 2 Ru Class battleships, 4 Tsu Class light cruisers and multiple destroyers of varying types!" a voice informed her over the radio. Belfast sighed; she really wished she still had her torpedoes, but with the Air Force's first responders roaring in, at least she didn't have to worry about threats from the sky.

"Copy that, I'll flank and hit them from the side," Belfast replied. She was about to move ahead when the voice responded to her.

"Wait one-minute ma'am, we're going to thin them out!" the voice explained as the Ticonderoga and Arleigh Burkes opened up with their missiles which raced towards the fleet. Belfast thought it weird, as she'd been told that missiles didn't work, only for parachutes to deploy, allowing the torpedos to drop into the water and make their runs. Seeing this the abyssal destroyers surged forwards, eating most of the barrage, but some slipped through, striking the more important cruisers and battleships, sinking one of the cruisers and crippling one of the battleships. "Multiple targets destroyed, all ships engage!" the voice continued as the Ticonderoga opened fire.

"Copy that, I'll deal with the undamaged battleship, you guys handle the cruisers!" Belfast replied before turning back to Intrepid, "Try and figure out how your rigging works and stay clear of the shooting!" she reminded her as she moved up, targeting the undamaged Battleship and opening fire. The abyssal tried to bring her weapons to bear, but Belfast, with her superior fire control, hit with her first salvo, slamming her first into the Abyssal's head, where Belfast figured the Abyssal's fire control was located, stunning the Abyssal and allowing Belfast to unload multiple salvos into her target. As she was about to send another salvo down range, her radar picked up movement on her flank, turning to find the guns of the damaged battleship trained on her. But before the abyssal could fire, a flight of miniature TBD Avenger torpedo bombers screamed in, dropping torpedoes at the Abyssal, who tried to evade, only for another flight of miniature SB2C Helldivers to dive out of the sun, raining armour piercing bombs down on their target, which combined with the follow up torpedoes, reduced the Abyssal to a sinking wreck.

"Hey, I found out how this works!" Intrepid announced as she shouldered the Springfield and fired a clip, only for the bullets to transform into a flight of Corsair fighters which climbed to engage the Abyssal fighters, before loading a fresh clip of Avengers.

"Nice one, and thanks for the help back there," Belfast replied as she opened up again on the remaining battleship, firing until the Abyssal rolled over and sank into the Hudson.

"All ships ceasefire, ceasefire, all hostiles destroyed," a new voice ordered as the last Abyssal slipped under the water. Looking around Belfast noted the dented bow of the Ticonderoga, with bits of Abyssal smeared down both sides, and the broken turret on its deck. Apparently, the Ticonderoga had rammed one of the cruisers after its gun was disabled and had come off better. The Arleigh Burkes were also damaged, but still had their guns operational, and seeing that the city was unmarked, Belfast could breathe a sigh of relief.

 **Authors notes**

 **So this should have gone up last year, but I got ill so I'm sorry about it being late, hope you enjoyed it and I'll see you next time.**


	11. Waking a sleeping sister

**October 11th, 2020 - New York - 09:48 Hrs - HMS Belfast**

Belfast sighed as she pulled herself onto Pier 86, followed by Intrepid after she'd recovered her aircraft. Looking around, Belfast noted the lack of damage inflicted on the city. It made sense as the Abyssals had been concentrating their efforts on Intrepid's old steel body, which gave Belfast the impression that they had been attempting to prevent her summoning by sinking her at anchor. Even had they somehow succeeded, the harbour was shallow enough that Intrepid's hull would have simply settled on the bottom, like Queen Elizabeth and Valiant had when they'd been attacked in Alexandria in 1941. Belfast had at the time not remembered that particular incident, but after being turned into a museum had read up on it, along with anything else that had happened during the early years of the war. She had noticed the war seemed to be a period she couldn't remember much, except for the period between her mining and the last few weeks of her rebuild. Exactly why, however, she had never been able to answer.

"Hey, nice work with that battleship. I didn't think a light cruiser was even capable of taking one on?" Intrepid noted as she stowed her rigging, the two sitting down to catch their breath.

"Yeah, us Towns can punch above our weight. I've got to say you bailed me out with that other battleship, I really owe you one there," Belfast replied, causing Intrepid to smile. "Hey, quick question. You have the more modern flight deck, but you were operating WW2 vintage planes. Didn't you have Crusaders and Skyhawks?" she asked, earning a sigh from Intrepid.

"Well, it would have taken much longer to get them armed and launched than the propeller-driven stuff, so I used them instead," Intrepid explained before giving Belfast a cheeky smile. "Not every one of us can use our more modern equipment as you can," she added, referring to Belfast's radar, which was from her 1959 refit. It was far superior to WW2 vintage radar which, if they had any, the Abyssals would be using in some form or another.

"Ah, there you are!" A familiar voice noted with satisfaction, causing Belfast's blood to boil. She knew that voice.

"Agent Spenser, shouldn't you be in a brig?!" Belfast asked rhetorically as she got to her feet and stared at the man. He simply smiled slimily, before answering.

"Bah, the lock was child's play. Slipping past the guards wasn't tricky either, not with that show in the river to distract them," Spenser answered, giving a cocky smile, making Belfast bristle.

"Erm, who is this guy?" Intrepid asked, having not seen Spenser being arrested in the wardroom earlier. She clearly didn't know about him.

"This is Agent Spenser, a CIA asshole who thinks he can treat us like objects," Belfast answered as she stared at Spenser, waiting for him to try something.

"You are objects. No matter how you try and act human, you are still objects!" Spenser retorted angrily, as Belfast suppressed the urge to punch the man again.

"Hey! what the hell do you think you're doing!" Walker shouted as he charged down the gangplank, followed by the Admiral and two marines, all of whom didn't look happy.

"This isn't over!" Spenser snarled before making a run for it, followed by the Marines who despite being fitter than the CIA man, didn't seem to be able to close the gap on the man.

"Fucking Spenser! what the fuck is the CIA even doing here?" Walker asked the admiral angrily as Spenser disappeared from view, the Marines still following him like bloodhounds.

"I don't know; it seems that since this war broke out the CIA seems to think it can do what it likes, and with everyone too busy fixing the real issues no one has been able to reign them in," The Admiral answered, a hint of anger in his voice, before turning to Belfast and Intrepid. "Good work you two, but I'm afraid we can't give you a break. It has been decided that we need to speed up the pace of summonings, and that means you two are going to be very busy," the Admiral answered.

"What's the plan, Admiral...?" Intrepid trailed off, as Belfast mentally calmed herself down. She hated it when her temper got the better of her, it reminded her too much of her past.

"Bennet, but that's not important. what is important, before the Abyssals regroup: Intrepid, you're going north towards Canada, then you'll be heading to the West coast. Belfast you'll be heading South along the east coast. We've spoken with the Royal Navy and they've agreed to the length of your stay, understood?" Bennet asked as he fished out a piece of paper.

"The east coast… does that mean I'll be seeing Texas?" Belfast asked hiding her nervousness. Texas was the last person Belfast wanted to see, her hatred of Belfast almost rivalling that of Victory's.

"Yes, It will. I'm sure you must be excited to see her again," Bennet noted before he handed the paper to Walker. "Here's the itinerary for Belfast Captain, I'm assigning you as her chaperone during her stay. You'll find a car in the parking lot waiting to take you to Newark, where a plane will be waiting to take you on your journey" he ordered before gesturing for Intrepid to follow him.

"C'mon Belfast, we've got some driving to do," Walker spoke as he began to walk towards the car park. Belfast followed behind quietly, deep in thought.

* * *

 **October 11th, 2020 - New Jersey - 10:22 Hrs - HMS Belfast**

Belfast sat quietly in the passenger seat as the helicopter flew across New Jersey. Mentally she was anything but happy: she was on a collision course with someone who detested her guts, and she was powerless to prevent their meeting, a meeting that-in her head-wasn't going to end well for her.

"You ok Belfast?" Walker asked, dragging Belfast from her thoughts as she turned to answer him.

"Fine, I'm just thinking about something," Belfast said before she turned to stare out of the window, watching the countryside pass by as she went back to thinking.

"Ok, tell me if you need anything. We should be in Philadelphia in about a few minutes," Walker replied. Belfast, however, was hardy listening.

* * *

 **October 11th, 2020 - Portsmouth - 15:35 Hrs - HMS Gambia**

Doctor Taylor hummed quietly as she moved about the lab, rechecking her notes and sensors for the millionth time as she did so. At least that's what she appeared to be doing in Gambia's eyes. She had been silently waiting for the doctor to commence her testing of her and Duke of York, who were currently the only two shipgirls still in the UK. Cavalier was off in Poland having been sent to summon the Polish Destroyer Błyskawica. Warrior in Ireland getting Caroline, Victory was off getting Unicorn and Trincomalee, and Alliance was in Germany getting U-995 and Wilhelm Bauer. Duke of York had been surprised to discover the two German subs still existed, even after operation Deadlight.

"Ok, we're good to go here!" Taylor exclaimed with glee as she gestured for Gambia and Duke of York to take their places in the centre of the lab. "Now, as you will have been told, Cavalier, Gannet and Ocelot have been interacting as spirits since being converted to museums. This has given me an idea regarding how summoning works, and after Duke of York's summoning in London, where Belfast suffered some side-effects, I have decided to conduct a test to check my hypothesis," she explained as the pair sat down next to one another, not quite sure what the doctor had planned for them.

"Okay, so what exactly are we doing Doc?" Duke of York asked nervously. From what she'd seen of the doctor's mathematical formulas, it didn't make a word of sense, and she was meant to be good at maths, Taylor however simply smiled before answering.

"Simple my dear, we are going to attempt a joint summoning, I am going to have you two summon the same spirit together, to test for the side-effects that Belfast suffered," Taylor answered as she set the cameras to record, the side-effects not being limited to feeling weak and wanting to sleep, but that what they had failed to tell Belfast, was that when she had collapsed she had been twitching, until Gambia, Cavalier and Alliance had grabbed a hold of her, at which point the twitching had stopped. "Now if you would join hands we can begin" she began, with Duke of York and Gambia complying, "Now close your eyes and concentrate on your target" Taylor continued, as Duke of York and Gambia started to concentrate, their target being Gambia's sister Jamaica, who both had known during their careers, and who at Gambia's insistence had been chosen for the test, in return for which Gambia had said that she and Jamaica would help Duke of York summon her sisters in return. As the two concentrated, however, as Gambia started seeing flashes of her sister at North Cape, a battle which she hadn't fought in, and then in one blinding flash, she found herself sitting on Jamaica's deck.

"What the hell just happened?" Gambia exclaimed as she got to her feet, noting that she felt perfectly fine, Duke of York however simply gave her a confused look, "I saw North Cape, a battle I wasn't part of, did you see any of my memories?" she asked.

"Nope, sorry, I guess whoever has the stronger memories is the one who makes the connection," Duke of York Guessed, as she got up and began looking around "Now where's your sister going to be?" she asked, Gambia simply sighed before marching towards the superstructure.

"Well ever since she was in that film in the 50's she was obsessed with films and TV, so I'm guessing she'll be in her old hanger, which got used as a cinema from time to time," Gambia explained as she led Duke of York inside, through the superstructure and into Jamaica's hanger, where they found the cruiser layed out on a deck chair asleep, as a projector played the film, The Battle of the River Plate on a screen stuck against one of the hanger walls, "See told you" she exclaimed as she looked at her sleeping sister. Jamaica had darker skin than Gambia, with ginger hair instead of Gambia's brown, and a dark red jacket and skirt and a black shirt in place of Gambia's green jacket and skirt and a white shirt.

"So how do you want to do this?" Duke of York asked, Gambia however simply smiled and walked up to her sleeping sister.

"The only way fitting of someone who used to rub it in that she'd been in a film!" Gambia explained before grabbing the bottom of the chair, as an evil grin formed on her face "WAKE UP SLEEPY HEAD!" she shouted before flipping the chair and her sister over, with Jamaica landing on her face, before everything went white, which when it cleared, Duke of York and Gambia found themselves back in Taylor's lab, with Jamaica lying on the floor in front of them.

"Any side effects? and injuries? any weird stuff?" Taylor asked quickly as the pair got to their feet.

"Apart from Gambia seeing my memories, nothing to report" Duke of York explained, prompting excited noises from Taylor as she scribbled down the results, only for a low groaning noise to catch everyone's attention.

"Owwwww, why does my face hurt?" Jamaica groaned as Gambia stifled a laugh, she did love her sister, but after all those years of Jamaica bragging, it had been good to get some payback.

* * *

 **Authors notes**

 **So what do you get when you take insomnia, stress, a lot of paperwork and writer's block, Answer a two-week delay in writing, and I'd like to apologise for the absence, I've just had a bad few weeks, anyway all I can say is sorry and that I'll try and do better.**

 **On a side note, I've started a TV-tropes page for this and the prequel, I don't know why I did (I was probably bored or something), anyway feel free to contribute to that if you want.**


	12. 3 for the price of 2

**October 11th, 2020 - New Jersey, USS New Jersey - 11:58 Hrs - HMS Belfast**

Unlike Intrepid, Belfast had met New Jersey in her career, having worked with her on a bombardment operation in Korea. Although the two had never spoken much, Belfast could still remember the black haired spirits, stereotypical perky patriotic American girl persona, and her rather impressive looking black dragon tattoo that had run down the girls left arm. But as she opened her eyes, it took a second for Belfast to recognise New Jersey, who was perched on a davit nearby, looking roughly the same as she had 70 years ago. She still wore the same outfit that, in Bel's impression, revealed way too much, but with noticeable adjustments. Now she also wore a faded and battered looking Dark Blue Utility Jacket with the sleeves cut-off, and more noticeably, New Jersey didn't look excited at all. If anything, she looked rather bored.

"Jersey?" Belfast asked as she got to her feet. New Jersey however simply sighed before getting up.

"Hey there Bel, long time no see." New Jersey's voice greeted her with warmth; she seemed rather pleased to see Belfast. "May I just say it's nice to finally hear your voice properly?" she added as she offered Belfast a hand up.

"Thanks," Belfast replied as she accepted the battleship's offer, who pulled the lighter cruiser to her feet with ease. "You ok, Jersey? You seem a little...'

"Less patriotic?" the American swiftly answered her hesitant gaze. "Yeah, watching your crew and all the other servicemen who fought in 'Nam come home and get treated like vile criminals does wonders for your views on your country and war in-general," New Jersey replied, the smile vanishing once more from her face.

"Of course I'm not the only one who's changed," she continued, the smile returning somewhat as she looked at Belfast intently. "I mean you're actually talking to me, and you ditched that uniform and grew your hair out. What changed?" New Jersey queried.

"Eh, when you spend 50 years with no-one to talk to, or without anyone who wants to talk with you, you start to get a bit lonely," Belfast replied calmly, missing out the part with losing her urge to die. "As for the rest, my hair's longer because I got sick of it being so short, and the uniform was a bit tatty." New Jersey simply nodded at Belfast's answers.

"So what's the plan then? You do what you did to Intrepid and the USN puts me back to work again?" New Jersey asked, staring at the frozen form of Captain Walker, who hadn't joined Belfast as he had to take a phone call from Washington. "Because I'll just say up front that waving a giant flag and singing praises of America won't work; I'm over that now." she continued, Belfast however simply stared at her blankly. "That was my shitty attempt at a joke, Bel. Please laugh," New Jersey clarified.

"Uh huh, you ready then?" Belfast replied, looking at New Jersey uncertainly. "It'll pretty much be the same as Intrepid," she added.

"Figured," she mused before rolling her eyes and giving a muffled chuckle. "Heh, it's been nearly 40 years since I got to blow something up, so yeah, let's get the hell out of here." New Jersey grinned and slammed her fists together. That was all Belfast needed to hear, and so she let her concentration lapse, led New Jersey to where Walker was standing, and then return to her original state.

"...Yeah, I'll tell her. Yeah, thanks for that. Ok, got to go, sir," Walker acknowledged before hanging up. "Sorry about that, I got an update from Admiral Bennett in Washington. Apparently, Doctor Taylor discovered that multiple spirits can summon another spirit," he explained to Belfast before turning to New Jersey, "so we've been talking over the potential applications of this newfound fact," he explained before swiftly turning his attention to New Jersey. "I'm Captain Walker, pleased to meet you." Walker greeted, offering his hand, which New Jersey accepted. "Now, we need to get moving as we have a flight to catch at the airport. It'll be stopping in Norfolk, before taking you and Lieutenant Thompson," he gestured at the nearby officer who had taken them to New Jersey, "to San Diego." That quickly caught New Jersey's attention.

"Wait, Norfolk? You're getting my sister?" New Jersey queried, her smile broadening at the acknowledging nod from Walker in reply. "Can I come? You said that multiple spirits can summon someone, and we are stopping there anyway!" Walker glanced at Lieutenant Thompson expectantly, who simply shrugged in reply. As Walker was the senior officer, the ball was in his court.

"Well..." Walker began, scrunching his brow as he weighed up the options and contending factor. "I think…"

"I think 'not pissing off nearly 60,000 tonnes of fast battleship' is a good start," Belfast whispered leaning over to him, an idea that Walker was inclined to agree with.

* * *

 **October 11th, 2020 - Norfolk, USS Wisconsin - 13:22 Hrs - HMS Belfast**

"So, did she actually calm down after Korea?" Belfast asked as she followed New Jersey up the boarding ramp to Wisconsin.

"Ha, Whisky, calm?" she snorted. "Please, that one's always been a hothead. You think that tantrum in Korea was bad, imagine being stuck with her in mothballs! Half the time she was swearing her head off at being tied up doing nothing, the other half sulking. I pity Iowa and Mo, since they had to put up with her when I was off in Vietnam," New Jersey trailed off thoughtfully as the pair reached the top of the ramp, Walker and Thompson only a few steps behind them.

"She isn't going to fly off of the handle if that's what you're wondering," she added thoughtfully as if reading Belfast's thoughts.

"And that's fine," Belfast simply nodded calmly in agreement. "So long as Wisconsin doesn't blow me to matchwood like she did to that artillery battery, everything is fine," she thought to herself.

"Good to hear," New Jersey murmured as sat down on the deck, with Belfast sitting down beside her before turning to face Walker.

"So we just join hands and Jersey just has to think about Whisky?" Belfast asked Walker.

"Should be," Walker guessed as he propped himself up against a railing, "but they were summoning Jamaica. In this case, you both might need to think about Wisconsin". Belfast simply sighed and offered her hand to New Jersey, who took it, before both of them closed their eyes and concentrated. Almost immediately Belfast felt the transition, and upon opening her eyes she found a near spitting image of New Jersey. Well, except for the lighter blue eyes, brown hair, and the fact that she didn't have the black dragon tattoo or sleeveless jacket.

"So, you finally decided to pay me a visit sis," Wisconsin smirked. New Jersey however simply glanced at Belfast before rolling her eyes.

"Knock it off Whisky," New Jersey scolded as she closed the distance between the two Iowas, "I asked to come and get you," she added to illustrate the point. Belfast meanwhile was weighing up whether it was worth speaking up before there was a sisterly catfight when something brushed against her arm, causing her to jump and look about. Only there was no one there; the only sign of anything amiss was a folded up deck chair that had materialized when she'd made the transition. Then, she noticed something poking out from inside the chairs folds, and with her curiosity piqued, she strolled over and pulled the object free, revealing it to be a well-rolled magazine of some sort.

"I never took you for a reader," Belfast mused nonchalantly as she began to unfurl the magazine, as the battleships continued duking it out in the background. Her curiosity promptly stopped when she came face-to-face at its cover and subject matter, which instead caused to her to drop it in surprise. This promptly caught New Jersey's and Wisconsin's attention, the latter of whom's face turning an interesting shade of scarlet when she saw what Belfast had found.

"Hey, that's mine!" Wisconsin shouted in panic before she dashed over to retrieve her magazine, only for New Jersey, who had two knots on her sister, to beat her to it. "Give me that!" she pleaded, prostrating the ground repeatedly before her feet. New Jersey however simply looked intrigued and flipped the book over, before bursting out laughing.

"You, you, you dirty girl! I knew you picked up something's from Japan, but not this!" New Jersey laughed as she looked at the Josei novel's cover from corner to corner while Wisconsin wilted in despair. Even Belfast got in a good laugh, mostly to cover for how embarrassed she felt for finding an 'Adult' comic.

"Shut up!" Wisconsin cried frantically, turning an even deeper shade of red as she snatched the book out of New Jersey's hands, which only caused her to laugh harder. "It's...it's... it's perfectly normal! I'm entitled to read what I want!" she stuttered.

"Oh come on Whisky, I'm only joking," New Jersey grinned knowingly as Wisconsin scowled.

"If you tell either Iowa or Mo, I swear I will end you faster than I did to those damn Koreans!" the youngest Iowa growled.

"Relax, Whisky, relax, your secret is safe with me. By the way, good find, Bel," she added with an approving wink to the bystanding redhead.

"That's the thing," Belfast began worriedly, glancing around them as if they were under the gaze of a pair of unseen watchful eyes. "I wasn't actively searching for it. Someone brushed against my arm and pointed me in its direction."

"Well, the last time I checked, chairs don't move, and I'm the only one who's been living here this whole time," Wisconsin groused, still sore from her little secret being spilled. "So it was probably just your imagination" she added.

"But-" Belfast began, only for New Jersey to cut her off.

"From what I can see it's only me and Whisky here with you Bel," New Jersey chimed in, "and I don't think that'll be changing any time soon. And that I say that when you're ready we should get going. Some of us have a carrier to catch after all." she added, prompting a sigh from the cruiser, before they eased their focus and returned to reality. However, before either of them could get up, a curt voice abruptly cut in.

"YOU! Come here you!" A voice snarled startling everyone before all three turned to each other uncertainly.

"Was that either of you just now?" New Jersey asked, only for a figure with light brown hair and angry dark blue eyes to leap out of nowhere, giving an angry screech in triumph as she pinned Wisconsin to the ground.

"For over sixty years I have been stuck following you around! Watching you sleep! Watching you eat! Watching you do...things!" the figure screeched. "Do you know what the actual flying fuck I've seen?!" she screamed as she tugged viciously at Wisconsin's hair, with the others watching in stunned silence.

"Kentucky?" New Jersey whispered in shock before jumping up and running over to greet the very young, and very angry Iowa.

"I'm starting to wonder if it was best if that had been a tap on the arm," Belfast smiled half-sheepishly, half-worriedly as the trio became engaged in a flurry of conversation, emotional words flying between the three of them like shells. Walker meanwhile, watching from a safe distance, simply reached for his phone, knowing a certain Doctor was about to get some very interesting news.

* * *

 **Authors Notes**

 **Sorry I this one's a bit late, I've been having problems with this one. Anyway, feel free to comment and review as always.**

 **Also a big thanks to PointlessArrow from the Rulesverse server for proof-reading this chapter, and helping fix some things, (He's also on as well).**


	13. Questions and answers

**October 11th, 2020 - Norfolk - 13:30 Hrs - HMS Belfast**

Belfast had seen people eat a lot during her career, but the way Kentucky demolished her burger, that was something that was new. After somehow summoning Kentucky along with Wisconsin, it had been decided that the group would grab lunch whilst someone came to collect the unexpected battleship, the problem was that Kentucky wanted to beat the crap out of Wisconsin for being forced to observe some of the latter's more 'private' habits; then Walker and the other US Navy officers, including the one who had been tasked with escorting Wisconsin wanted to talk in private, away from the shipgirls, meaning that they had been forced to split between three separate booths, and as no-one wanted to leave Kentucky alone by herself, Belfast as the oldest had been asked to keep an eye on her.

"Oh my god, these are soo good!" Kentucky beamed as she chewed a mouthful of burger, only to receive a look from Belfast "What?" she asked, only for Belfast to gesture at the bits of chewed food that had landed on the table "oh sorry," Kentucky apologised as she swallowed the food in her mouth.

"Yeah, just a friendly suggestion, don't talk with a mouthful of food," Belfast advised as she took a bit of her food, which in Kentucky's defence was quite nice.

"Yeah, I should know that since I was forced to watch Whisky all this time," Kentucky replied, before turning to glare at Wisconsin who was seated opposite New Jersey a few tables away. "Although speaking of her habits, you seemed a bit embarrassed when you found her book" she mused, prompting Belfast to freeze mid-chew, "In fact, you looked a bit embarrassed to me," Kentucky teased, causing Belfast to quickly swallow before answering.

"Yeah, I tended to keep away from all that stuff, although my sister Sheffield tried bringing the topic once or twice, but I managed to block that out," Belfast replied before taking a quick drink. Despite being three years older than anyone any other the other shipgirls in the room, she was due to her 'unique' past, she was rather immature on some more 'grown-up' subjects.

"Ha lucky you, I'd have killed for that, don't get me started on what she did," Kentucky admitted, as she picked around at the chips on her plate, "You know I'd never actually heard of you till a few days ago," she mused prompting Belfast smile slightly, she wasn't surprised that Kentucky didn't know anything about her, in fact she was relieved as that meant that her past was being forgotten. "But, if your performance so far is anything to go by, the Brits were right to save you," Kentucky added before eating the last bit of her burger followed by her chips.

"Yeah, I guess they were," Belfast agreed as she swallowed the last chip on her plate. Had she heard that sentence 50 years ago, she'd have screamed about how much she deserved to die, but the intervening years had given her a new view on that topic, which had only been reinforced after the attack on London she'd helped defeat.

"Ok, so if you guys are done eating, someones going to be along in a few minutes to keep an eye on Kentucky, so we can head off on our next stop," Walker announced as he strolled up next to the pair.

"And where is our next stop?" Belfast asked, wondering who exactly she was going to be meeting next.

"Well, as the Royal Navy wants you back as quick as possible and as we have enough to start rebuilding on our own, it's been decided that Wisconsin will head down to Texas to summon everyone down there before she heads to help the Japanese out, so we'll be doing the rest of the east coast down to Mobile," Walker explained, making Belfast mentally breath a sigh of relief at not having to meet Texas again. "Which is fortunate as they moved Texas there for her repairs, so they're planning a photo-op when we get there" he added quickly, prompting Belfast to mentally scream.

"Erm, Tex, I um..." Belfast began, as she desperately thought of a way out of this, with Texas's last threat running on repeat in her head. However, nothing came to mind, and so she moved to plan B, if she couldn't prevent their meeting, she could at least mitigate the damage from it, "Well, if I'm Texas then I'd like it if you could arrange it for someone else to join us, as she has a personal connection to Texas as well, though more for the state in this case," she advised, getting a curious look from Walker.

"Ok, who did you have in mind?" Walker asked as he wondered exactly who Belfast wanted, Belfast meanwhile took a deep breath before answering.

* * *

 **October 12th, 2020 - Portsmouth Harbour - 10:13 Hrs - HMS Sheffield**

The light was blinding at first to Sheffield, but eventually, she began to see shapes form out of the glare.

"Easy, easy, waking up the first time's a pain, especially after the nap you've had" Duke of York cautioned as she, Jamaica and Gambia helped her into a sitting position.

"Yorkie?" Sheffield asked as she rubbed her eyes to see whether or not the image of a battleship who had been scrapped 10 years earlier than she had, was a figment of her imagination.

"Hey, she remembers me!" Duke of York joked as Sheffield realised she wasn't imaging Duke of York, before turning to face Jamaica and Gambia.

"Jamaica? Gami? what the hell is going on?" Sheffield queried as she hauled herself to her feet, nearly falling back over until Jamaica steadied her.

"It's a long story, c'mon we'll tell you everything after we've got you a drink," Jamaica replied as she led Sheffield to the door, with Gambia supporting her from the other side and Duke of York bringing up the rear.

"A drink?" Sheffield inquired, not understanding what Jamaica meant, only then she began to notice her surroundings, "Where are we?" she asked, prompting Gambia to clear her throat to explain.

"Where in Portsmouth, and um, the year is 2020," Gambia began, pausing to let Sheffield process this information, "Also all the humans can see us just so you know" she added quickly.

"WHAT! wait how, but I was..." Sheffield babbled as she was led out into the open air, only for the sight of one of the Royal Navy's Queen Elizabeth Carriers to render her speechless.

"Yeah, that was our reaction the first time as well," Duke of York chuckled, as the group made their way across the base. Sheffield meanwhile was too confused to talk, she was still trying to work out how she had been scrapped in 1967 and was now somehow in 2020. Eventually, the group reached a canteen, and after steering Sheffield into a vacant seat at a table, Duke of York and Jamaica went off to fetch some drinks, leaving Gambia to keep an eye on Sheffield.

"I presume you've got a tonne of questions?" Gambia guessed, receiving a nod from Sheffield as an answer, "Well, you see we're sort of physical personifications of our former steel hulls, which have taken the form of our spiritual versions of ourselves," she summarised, trying to remember what Doctor Taylor had told Jamaica when they'd summoned her.

"Huh?" Sheffield asked, not understanding a word Gambia had just said.

"Were not dead anymore and look like our spirit forms, but are still heavily armed warships," Jamaica explained as she and Duke of York put the drinks down before taking the remaining seats at the table, "I told you I didn't understand Taylor's explanation when she gave it, what made you think you'd make it any clearer?" she noted.

"Ok I understand what she just said, but armed? what's that mean?" Sheffield queried, Duke of York, however, simply answered by standing up and moving to a safe distance from the table, before summoning her rigging.

"Literally what it says on the tin" Duke of York specified, before de-summoning her rigging and retaking her seat, "Any other questions?" she asked.

"Yes, how the hell did you 'resurrect me', and how did the get you in the first place" Sheffield inquired before she took a mouthful of her drink.

"Ah, well that's a long story, let me explain..." Gambia began, quickly summarizing the Abyssal threat, and the war so far. "...and then they attacked London, and that's where we come in," she concluded, leaving Sheffield with one lingering question.

"Ok, but that still doesn't explain how we got summoned, I'm presuming since the Americans are the only ones who kept any of us, that they had something to do with it" Sheffield guessed, only to earn a chuckle from Duke of York.

"Nope, the Yanks had nothing to do with us turning up," Duke of York replied, getting a confused look from Sheffield.

"Really? then who got summoned first, because if it wasn't the Americans, then who? the only one we have is Victory and she's stuck in Portsmouth, so if it wasn't her either then who was it?" Sheffield asked, only for her companions to give each other awkward look's, wondering who was going to tell her who it really had been, only for a new voice to perk up.

"Excuse me, you're a Town right?" White queried gesturing at Sheffield.

"Why yes, HMS Sheffield, third Town class light cruiser, how did you know what class I was?" Sheffield answered, White however simply smiled before explaining.

"Oh, well you look just like Bel, though you have a radically different look to when I met her," White explained.

"Wait, how have you met Bel?" Sheffield inquired, only for the answer then suddenly dawned on her, "Wait, Bel? Bel summoned you!" she exclaimed, receiving nods from Gambia, Jamaica and Duke of York.

"Bel, didn't get scrapped, she's been a museum ship on the Thames since 1971, and they didn't summon her, she summoned herself during the attack on London," Gambia explained as White, deciding that she wasn't any use to this conversation, headed off to get a drink of her own.

"So, wait of all the ships they could have saved, they saved Bel?" Sheffield mused, before dropping to a whisper, "That must have been hell for her!" she added, only for Gambia to sigh.

"Well, you'd think that..." .Gambia began, filling Sheffield in on the 'progress' Sheffield's youngest sister had made in the intervening years.

* * *

 **Authors notes**

 **Bit of a slower chapter here, I'm going to jump a bit forward in the next chapter since the America segment is taking longer than I thought, hope you don't mind me doing that.**


	14. A Date with Fate

**October 14th, 2020 - Mobile - 07:30 Hrs - HMS Belfast**

It was a grey and miserable morning when Belfast rolled out of her hotel bed, slowly she stumbled into the bathroom before looking at herself in the mirror. To anyone else, Belfast looked like her normal self, if a bit sleep drowsy, but Belfast could see the fear in her eyes, after all, today was the day she'd been regretting since the trip had begun, and there was no way to prevent it. Sighing at what the day would inevitably bring her, Belfast consigned herself to her fate by starting what had become her morning routine. First, she rinsed out her mouth and brushed her teeth to wash away her morning breath, which thanks to the rum she'd been drinking before going to sleep, just in case the nightmares returned, was noticeably pungent. Then she showered and dressed in what had become her usual attire, before quickly repacking all her belongings into her bag, pulling the last zipper closed just as there was a knock at the door.

"Belfast, you awake?" Walker asked through the door as Belfast got to her feet.

"Yeah, just finished packing," Belfast replied as she picked up her bag and headed for the door, finding Walker waiting for her on the other side.

"You got everything?" Walker queried, receiving a nod from Belfast in return, "Right, well we better get going, we've got you on a flight at one, so we need to get a move on," he noted as he started towards the lift, with Belfast following.

"Oh, where are going to meet..." Belfast began only for Walker to answer before she could finish.

"She'll meet us at the museum since thanks to Texas being restored, we're going to do the summoning on Alabama, which means we can get her and Drum whilst we're at it," Walker answered as he pressed the elevator call button, Belfast already knew this, which had given her some small crumb of comfort that Texas might restrain herself in public, but in private, that was anyone's guess.

"Yeah, It's hard to believe that she's in such bad shape," Belfast mused, as the lift doors opened. She was genuinely concerned with the state that Texas had gotten into since she had been retired in 1948, especially that since then, Warrior and the SS Great Britain, ships that were far older and in the case of Great Britain actively being left to die on a beach, had been in better condition when they had been finally saved in the 1970s.

"Well, at least they're finally doing something about her," Walker noted as the pair stepped into the lift, with Walker pressing the button for the lobby, "But, I have to agree that neglected her maintenance, guess you're lucky that the people who saved you knew to hand you over to the Imperial War Museum when the money got tight," He added, receiving a look from Belfast, having not expected Walker to know that particular fact, "What? I did my homework after you showed up," Walker explained, prompting a sigh from Belfast.

"Yeah, you could say I got lucky again," Belfast mused, as the lift doors shut behind them.

* * *

 **October 14th, 2020 - Mobile, Battleship Memorial Park - 08:11 Hrs - HMS Belfast**

The weather hadn't improved much when the pair arrived at Battleship Memorial Park, but fortunately for the press and the small crowd gathered, the weather appeared to be holding for the minute. Getting out of the car, Belfast quickly scanned the assembled crowds at the foot of the boarding ramp to Alabama's stern, looking for one face in particular, only for a familiar voice from behind to give her an answer.

"Looking for me?" the voice asked, prompting Belfast to turn, finding the owner of the voice standing near a second car with Canadian plates, which must have pulled up after Belfast had arrived. Finding a familiar form of a destroyer, with long dark ginger hair flowing out from under her naval cap, a dark navy naval jumper with its white maple leaf on its shoulder with a matching skirt and tights, and its plimsoll style boots, exactly what she had worn when Belfast had last seen her off the coast of Korea, 70 years ago.

"Haida, still the same I see," Belfast replied calmly. Haida, after all, was one of the few spirits that Belfast knew, was on good terms with her, since unlike Texas, Haida had seen the monster of the war, and the mess that she'd been after her second breakdown in 1945.

"Yeah well, I didn't get a new wardrobe when Salem came and got me," Haida replied, moving a strand of hair off of her face, "At least, you look better than the last time I saw you," she added, and not just meaning Belfast's new outfit and hair cut.

"Ladies if you would mind, the weather's forecast to break soon and the press is getting impatient," Walker inputted, prompting a chuckle from Haida.

"Ha, over the threat of drizzle? None of them has been in a storm in the arctic, whilst having your top half covered in ice then!" Haida smirked, prompting a smile out of Belfast, who had forgotten the destroyer's sense of humour, which tended to clash with her status as the 'fightiest' ship in the Royal Canadian Navy.

"Yeah, but they're complaining to the brass, who are complaining at me to get a move on, so can we please do that before they demote me," Walker pleaded, prompting Haida to glance at the Canadian officer who had accompanied her, who simply gestured towards the boarding ramp.

"C'mon Haida, let's help the yank out" they replied, prompting Haida to roll her eyes, before making her way towards the ramp, with Belfast walking next to her, putting on a calm expression to hide how terrified she actually was, having to force herself to head towards Alabama instead of running as fast as possible in the other direction.

"Nervous Bel?" Haida whispered so that no-one else could hear her. Haida, like the other D-Day veterans, was fully aware of the threat that Texas had made to Belfast, and after the efforts, she'd gone through for her final bombardment mission, the threat was almost certainly real. Belfast meanwhile simply gave Haida an 'um-hum' in reply, partially so no one could hear her, but mostly because she was terrified she'd let slip exactly how petrified she was, "I can see why you asked for me now," she added quietly, as a loud cheer broke out amongst the crowd as the pair reached Alabama's deck before sitting down under the barrels of the battleships number 3 gun turret, with Walker and the Canadian officer remaining at the top of the boarding ramp, giving the pair some privacy, "Relax Bel, I'm sure Texas has mellowed since D-Day" Haida offered before extending her hand to Belfast, who despite not believing a word Haida had just said, forced herself to take the destroyers hand, close her eyes, and concentrate until she made the transition, opening them to find a figure no one recognised standing in front of them.

"Hey there, we were wondering when someone would come and get us," figure greeted as Belfast and Haida got to their feet, noticing the pennant number BB-60 embroidered on the right side of her top, Identifying her as Alabama.

"You must be Alabama," Belfast replied, prompting Alabama to smirk, Alabama was slightly shorter than an Iowa, even having a similar outfit to New Jersey, Wisconsin, and Kentucky, except in Alabama's case, hers covered more of her body than the Iowa's, with red hair in twin tails and blue eyes.

"What gave it away?" came a second, much more familiar voice prompting a sense of imposing doom to start creeping up Belfast's back, who turned to find a second figure standing behind her, wearing an all too familiar white button-down shirt, with a long red neckerchief tied around her neck, a pair of navy blue button Jeans, a pair of brown leather work boots with dark brown hair flowing out from beneath a brown Stetson, with the unmissable letters 'BB-35' printed on it, "Hello Bel, it's been a while," Texas deadpanned, her dark blue eyes fixed on the light cruiser in question.

"Oh Tex, play nice, I only know you're pissed because they have you stuck in that drydock," Alabama teased, not realising that Texas's frosty greeting was over something worse than a stint in drydock.

"Right, hey Al, you mind if I speak to Belfast alone for a minute?" Texas asked, causing Belfast's heart to sink, knowing exactly where Texas was heading with her 'private chat'.

"Eh, sure, I'll keep Drum occupied so she doesn't bother you, ok?" Alabama replied, as she walked over to the submarine in question, who was standing someways off.

"Um, ok, but can Haida come with us, Tex? since she'll want to hear what you have to say," Belfast requested, hoping that Texas would at least allow her to have someone help her up when Texas inevitably knocked her down.

"Eh, if she wants," Texas replied, glancing at Haida, who simply nodded before heading for Alabama's superstructure, with Haida and Belfast, who felt like someone being marched to their firing squad, hurriedly she thought of ways she might prevent what she knew was coming, only for nothing to come, and so instead took the only choice she had left, and as the three entered Alabama's superstructure, she made her choice clear.

"Ok Tex, free shot, but do me a favour and hit me in the gut, otherwise, the others will see the mark" Belfast declared, throwing open her arms to give Texas a clear path to her exposed midriff, Texas's face however simply changed from one of hidden anger to one of confusion.

"What the hell? What's with the whole 'I'm sorry' act, lose it and let's get this over with," Texas demanded, having expected Belfast to put up some sort of fight, not for her to willingly letting Texas hit her. Haida, however, chose this opportunity to speak up.

"Tex, it isn't an act, Bel has actually changed, I saw it in Korea, she was a mess, all wrapped up with hating herself for what she'd done!" Haida explained, getting an 'are you serious?' look from Texas, "I swear on the honour of Texas she's being genuine" she stated, getting a surprised look from the battleship, swearing on someone's life was one thing, but the honour of a state that had declared her an honorary member was another thing. Texas at this news simply returned her gaze to Belfast, the anger in her eyes was still there, but not as much as had been before.

"Ok Bel, since Haida's willing to defend you to that level, I'll cut you a deal, I'll let your past actions slide, if you prove to me you've changed, by flying straight and true, because if you screw up again, I'm going to do more than punch your lights out, are we clear?!" Texas proposed, leaning over Belfast to make clear her point.

"Crystal," Belfast answered calmly, hiding surprise that she wasn't picking herself, if not her teeth up off the floor. Texas meanwhile simply grunted before heading for the door.

"Well c'mon then, Al and Drum will be wondering where we are," Texas stated before passing through back onto the open deck, Belfast however simply turned to Haida and mouthed a thank-you to her. Haida however simply glanced at her, smiled slightly and then followed Texas outside, leaving Belfast alone to collect herself, before returning to the deck.

* * *

 **Authors Notes**

 **Ok, so there are probably two burning questions you would like answering, 1) Why didn't Texas punch Belfast? and 2) What the hell I been doing instead of getting this chapter written? well for the latter, let's just say life has been throwing me a few curveballs the last few weeks, with some added issues regarding family life which have been a drain on my willpower, which led to me doing anything other than writing this chapter.**

 **As for the former, well there's a very good reason why Texas didn't punch Belfast, the idea no longer worked after I learned that Texas would be moved to Mobile for repairs (probably but most sources are putting money on Mobile being the place, at the time of writing) so I had to bin that idea and come up with a plan B, which might seem like a cop-out, or (hopefully) a well-executed fake-out/switcharoo, (so please don't be angry).**

 **Anyway feel free to post reviews as always, and if anyone annoyed that I skipped a particular museum ship, relax I'll inevitably get around to them later on in the story (I just want to move the plot away from just summoning American ships).**


End file.
